Before the arrival of the Slavonic peoples in the Balkans during the 6th century AD, the area now known as Montenegro was inhabited principally by the Illyrians.

During the Bronze Age, the Illirii, probably the southernmost Illyrian tribe of that time, that gave their name to the entire group[2] were living near Skadar lake on the border of Albania and Montenegro and neighboring with the Greek tribes south.[2][3] Along the seaboard of the Adriatic, the movement of peoples that was typical of the ancient Mediterranean world ensured the settlement of a mixture of colonists, traders, and those in search of territorial conquest. Substantial Greek colonies were established on the 6th and 7th centuries BC and Celts are known to have settled there in the 4th century BC. During the 3rd century BC, an indigenous Illyrian kingdom emerged with its capital at Scutari. The Romans mounted several punitive expeditions against local pirates and finally conquered this Illyrian kingdom in the 2nd century BC, annexing it to the province of Illyricum.

The division of the Roman Empire between Roman and Byzantine rule – and subsequently between the Latin and Greek churches – was marked by a line that ran northward from Shkodra through modern Montenegro, symbolizing the status of this region as a perpetual marginal zone between the economic, cultural, and political worlds of the Mediterranean peoples. As Roman power declined, this part of the Dalmatian coast suffered from intermittent ravages by various semi-nomadic invaders, especially the Goths in the late 5th century and the Avars during the 6th century. These soon were supplanted by the Slavs, who became widely established in Dalmatia by the middle of the 7th century. Because the terrain was extremely rugged and lacked any major sources of wealth such as mineral riches, the area that is now Montenegro became a haven for residual groups of earlier settlers, including some tribes who had escaped Romanisation.

After facing subsequent Bulgarian domination, the people were split as the Doclean brother-archonts split the lands among each other after 900. Prince Časlav Klonimirović of the SerbianVlastimirović dynasty extended his influence over Doclea in the 10th century. After the fall of the Serbian Realm in 960, the Docleans faced a renewed Byzantine occupation through to the 11th century. The local ruler, Jovan Vladimir Dukljanski, whose cult still remains in the Orthodox Christian tradition, was at the time struggling to ensure independence.

Stefan Vojislav started an uprising against the Byzantine domination and gained a huge victory against the army of several Byzantine strategs in Tudjemili (Bar) in 1042, which put to an end the Byzantine influence over the Doclea. In the 1054 Great Schism, the Doclea fell on the side of the Catholic Church. Bar became a Bishopric in 1067. In 1077, Pope Gregory VII recognised Duklja as an independent state, acknowledging its King Mihailo (Michael, of the Vojislavljević dynasty founded by nobleman Stefan Vojislav) as Rex Doclea (King of Duklja). Later on Mihailo sent his troops, led by his son Bodin, in 1072 to assist the uprising of Slavs in Macedonia. In 1082, after numerous pleas the Bar Bishopric of Bar was upgraded to an Archbishopric.

The expansions of the Kings of the Vojislavljević dynasty led to the control over the other Slavic lands, including Zahumlje, Bosnia and Rascia. The might of the Doclea declined and they generally became subjected to the Grand Princes of Rascia in the 12th century. Stefan Nemanja was born in 1117 in Ribnica (today Podgorica). In 1168, as the Serbian Grand Zhupan, Stefan Nemanja took Doclea.

After the dramatic fall of the Western Roman Empire (476), the romanised Illyrians of the coast of Dalmatia survived the barbarian invasions of the Avars in the 6th century and were only nominally under the influence of the Slavs in the 7th and 8th centuries. In the last centuries of the first millennium, these Romanised Illyrians started to develop their own neo-Latin language, called Dalmatian language, around their small coastal villages that were growing with maritime commerce.
Venice started to take control of the southern Dalmatia around the 10th century, quickly assimilating the Dalmatian language with Venetian. By the 14th century the Republic of Venice was able to create a territorial continuity around the Bay of Kotor (Cattaro).

Part of today's Montenegro, called Sandžak, was under Ottoman control from 1498 to 1912, while coastal Montenegro was under Venetian control and rest of Montenegro was independent from 1516, when Vladika Vavil was elected as ruler of Montenegro by its clans, and it became a theocratic state. Only small town centers were controlled by Ottomans, but mountains and rural area were de facto independent and controlled by several Montenegrin clans, which were warrior societies.[4]

Montenegrin people were divided in clans (Pleme). Every adult male from clan was a warrior and took part in wars. Clans were ruled by chieftains, who also were military leaders of a clan. All clan leaders met up several times a year on Zbor (assembly) in Cetinje, the Montenegrin capital, to make important decisions for the nation, to solve blood feuds and to declare wars.

Independent Montenegro of that time was divided in three parts:

- Old Montenegro, which had territory of modern-day towns of Cetinje and part of Danilovgrad. It was core of Montenegro and Cetinje was the capital. Montenegrin Prince-Bishops (Vladikas) lived and ruled from Cetinje.

In 1514, the Ottoman-controlled territory of Montenegro was proclaimed as a separate Sanjak of Montenegro, by the order of Sultan Beyazid II. The first Sanjak-beg (governor) who was chosen was Ivan Crnojević's son Staniša (Skenderbeg Crnojević), who converted to Islam, and governed until 1528. Despite Skenderbeg's emphasized cruelty, the Ottomans did not have real power in Montenegro. Vladika Vavil was elected in 1516 as Montenegrin prince-bishop by the Montenegrin people.

For 180 years after their first appointment, the Vladikas were elected by the clans and people — an arrangement which was ultimately abandoned in favour of the hereditary system in 1697. For most of this period the Montenegrin people were in constant struggle for existence against Ottoman Empire.

A pretender to Montenegrin throne, one of the Crnojević family who had converted to Islam, invaded Montenegro just as Staniša, thirty years before, and with the same result. Vukotić, the civil governor, repulsed the attack of Turks. Montenegrins, encouraged by the victory, besieged Jajce in modern-day Bosnia and Herzegovina, where the Hungarian garrison was closely hemmed in by the Ottoman army. The Turks were too much occupied with the Hungarian war to take revenge. The next Ottoman invasion of Montenegro took place in 1570.

The national historians are silent upon the subject of the Haraç (tax in Ottoman Empire), which the invaders are said to have exacted from the inhabitants of the free mountains. The refusal of high-spirited Montenegrin clans to pay tax any longer may have been the cause of the Pasha's invasion during the reign of Bishop Rufim, when the Turks were driven back with heavy loss in Battle of Lješkopolje in 1604. About 1500 Montenegrin warriors attacked the Turkish camp on Lješkopolje field during the night, which counted 10.000 Ottoman soldiers.

In 1613 Arslan Pasha gathered army of over 40.000 men to attack part of Old Montenegro. Ottoman soldiers were twice as numerous as whole population of Old Montenegro. On 10 September the Montenegrins met the Turkish army, on the same spot Skenderbeg Crnojević was defeated nearly a century ago . The Montenegrins, although assisted by some neighbouring tribes, counted 4000 and were completely outnumbered. But their valour and prowess were out of proportion to their numbers. The Turks suffered a disastrous defeat. Arslan Pasha was wounded, and the heads of his second-in-command and a hundred other Turkish officers were carried off and stuck on the ramparts of Cetinje. The Ottoman troops retreated in disorder; many were drowned in the waters of the Morača, many more killed by Montenegrin pursuers.

Much light is thrown upon the condition of Montenegro at this period and the causes of its invariable success in war even against fearful odds are explained by the accounts of a contemporary writer, Mariano Bolizza. This author, a patrician of Venice, residing at Kotor in the early part of the seventeenth century, spent a considerable time in the Old Montenegro, and published in 1614 a description of Cetinje. At that time the whole male population of Cetinje available for war consisted of 8,027 persons, distributed among the ninety-three villages which it contained. But these few warriors were continually practising. The rapidity of their maneuvers was extraordinary, and for guerilla warfare they were among Europe's best.

The condition of the country at this period was naturally unsettled. War was the chief occupation of its inhabitants from sheer necessity, and the arts of peace languished. The printing-press, so active a century earlier, had ceased to exist ; the control of the Prince-Bishop over the five nahie, or districts, which then composed the principality, was weak; the capital itself was a mere village of a few houses. Still, even then, there was a system of local government. Each nahia was divided into tribes, or plemena, each presided over by a headman or kniez, who acted as a judge in disputes between the clansmen.[5]

Petar Petrović Njegoš perhaps the most influential vladika, reigned in the first half of the 19th century. In 1851 Danilo Petrović Njegoš became vladika, but in 1852 he married, threw off his ecclesiastical character, assuming the title of knjaz (Prince) Danilo I, and transformed his land into a secular principality.

Proclamation of the Kingdom of Montenegro.

Montenegro territory expanded (1830-1944)

Liberation of Montenegro from foreign occupation from 1711 to 1918

Following the assassination of Danilo by Todor Kadić in Kotor, in 1860, the Montenegrins proclaimed Nicholas I as his successor on August 14 of that year. In 1861-1862, Nicholas engaged in an unsuccessful war against the Ottoman Empire with Montenegro holding onto its independence only by the skin of its teeth.

He was much more successful in 1876. Following the Herzegovinian Uprising, partly initiated by his clandestine activities, he yet again declared war on Turkey. Serbia joined Montenegro, but it was defeated by Turkish forces that same year. Russia now joined in and decisively routed the Turks in 1877-78. The Treaty of San Stefano (March 1878) was highly advantageous to Montenegro, as well as Russia, Serbia, Romania and Bulgaria.[6] However, the gains were trimmed somewhat by the Treaty of Berlin (1878). In the end Montenegro was internationally recognized as an independent state, its territory was effectively doubled by the addition of 4,900 square kilometres (1,900 sq mi), the port of Bar and all the waters of Montenegro were closed to warships of all nations; and the administration of the maritime and sanitary police on the coast was placed in the hands of Austria.

Under Nicholas I the country was also granted its first constitution (1905) and was elevated to the rank of kingdom in 1910. During his reign Montenegro was an ally of Russia in the Russo-Japanese war. Montenegrin volunteers were fighting in the Russian Army.[7][8] In 2006, over 100 years after the end of the war, Japan recognized Montenegrin independence and declared the war being over.[9] A peace treaty was signed.[10]

In the Balkan Wars (1912–1913), Montenegro did make further territorial gains by splitting Sanjak with Serbia. However, the captured city of Skadar had to be given up to the new state of Albania at the insistence of the Great Powers despite the Montenegrins having invested 10,000 lives for the conquest of the town from the Ottoman-Albanian forces of Essad Pasha Toptani.

Montenegro suffered severely in World War I. Shortly after Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia (28 July 1914), Montenegro lost little time in declaring war on the Central Powers - on Austria-Hungary in the first instance - on 6 August 1914, despite Austrian diplomacy promising to cede Shkoder to Montenegro if it remained neutral.[11]
For purposes of coordination in the fight against the enemy army, Serbian General Bozidar Jankovic was named head of High Command of both Serbian and Montenegrin armies. Montenegro received 30 artillery pieces and financial help of 17 million dinars from Serbia. France contributed a colonial detachment of 200 men located in Cetinje at the beginning of war, as well as two radio-stations - located on top of Mount Lovćen and in Podgorica. Until 1915 France supplied Montenegro with necessary war material and food through the port of Bar, which was blockaded by Austrian battleships and submarines. In 1915 Italy took over this role, running supplies unsuccessfully and irregularly across the line Shengjin-Bojana-Lake Skadar, an unsecured route because of constant attacks by Albanian irregulars organised by Austrian agents. Lack of vital materials eventually led Montenegro to surrender.

Austria-Hungary dispatched a separate army to invade Montenegro[when?] and to prevent a junction of the Serbian and Montenegrin armies. This force, however, was repulsed, and from the top of the strongly fortified Lovćen, the Montenegrins carried on the bombardment of Kotor held by the enemy. The Austro-Hungarian army managed to capture the town of Pljevlja while on the other hand the Montenegrins took Budva, then under Austrian control. The Serbian victory at the Battle of Cer (15–24 August 1914) diverted enemy forces from Sandjak, and Pljevlja came into Montenegrin hands again. On August 10, 1914, the Montenegrin infantry delivered a strong attack against the Austrian garrisons, but they did not succeed in making good the advantage they first gained. They successfully resisted the Austrians in the second invasion of Serbia (September 1914) and almost succeeded in seizing Sarajevo. With the beginning of the third Austro-Hungarian invasion, however, the Montenegrin army had to retire before greatly superior numbers, and Austro-Hungarian, Bulgarian and German armies finally overran Serbia (December 1915). However, the Serbian army survived, and led by King Peter I of Serbia, started retreating across Albania. In order to support the Serbian retreat, the Montenegrin army, led by Janko Vukotic, engaged in the Battle of Mojkovac (6–7 January 1916). Montenegro also suffered a large scale invasion (January 1916) and for the remainder of the war remained in the possession of the Central Powers. See Serbian Campaign (World War I) for details. The Austrian officer Viktor Weber Edler von Webenau served as the military governor of Montenegro between 1916 and 1917. Afterwards Heinrich Clam-Martinic filled this position.

King Nicholas fled to Italy (January 1916) and then to France; the government transferred its operations to Bordeaux. Eventually the allies liberated Montenegro from the Austrians. A newly convened National Assembly of Podgorica (Podgorička skupština, Подгоричка скупштина), accused the Кing of seeking a separate peace with the enemy and consequently deposed him, banned his return and decided that Montenegro should join the Kingdom of Serbia on December 1, 1918. A part of the former Montenegrin military forces still loyal to the King started a rebellion against the amalgamation, the Christmas Uprising (7 January 1919).

In the period between the two World Wars, Nikola's grandson, King Alexander Karageorgevich dominated the Yugoslav government. In 1922 Montenegro became part of Zeta area and later Zeta Banate.The administrative seat of banate became former Montenegrin capital Cetinje. During this period, Montenegrin people were still divided between politics of Greens and Whites. The dominant political parties in Montenegro were Democratic Party, People's Radical Party, Communist Party of Yugoslavia, Alliance of Agrarians, Montenegrin Federalist Party and Yugoslav Republican Party. During this period, two main problems in Montenegro were lost sovereignty and bad economic situation. All of the parties except Federalists had the same attitude towards the first question, favouring centralism to federalism. The other question was more complex, but the fact on which all of the parties agreed is that the situation was far from good and that the government did nothing to improve the life in area. Devastated by war, Montenegro was never paid the reparations to which it had right as one of the Allies in the Great War. Most of the population lived in rural areas, but the smaller population of citizens had better standards of life. There was no infrastructure and industry was formed of few companies.

The English historian Denis Mack Smith wrote that the Queen of Italy (considered the most influential Montenegrin woman in history) convinced her husband the King of Italy Victor Emmanuel III to impose on Mussolini the creation of an independent Montenegro, against the wishes of the fascist Croats and Albanians (who wanted to enlarge their countries with the Montenegrin territories). Her nephew Prince Michael of Montenegro never accepted the offered crown, pledging loyalty to his nephew King Peter II of Yugoslavia.

The puppet Kingdom of Montenegro was created under fascist control while Krsto Zrnov Popović returned from his exile in Rome in 1941 to attempt to lead the Zelenaši ("Green" party), who supported the reinstatement of the Montenegrin monarchy. This militia was called the Lovćen Brigade. Montenegro was ravaged by a terrible guerrilla war, mainly after Nazi Germany replaced the defeated Italians in September 1943.

During World War II, as was the case in many other parts of Yugoslavia, Montenegro was involved in some sort of civil war. Besides Montenegrin Greens, the two main factions were the Chetnik Yugoslav army, who swore allegiance to the government in exile and consisted mainly of Montenegrins who declared themselves as Serbs (many of its members were Montenegrin Whites) and Yugoslav Partisans, whose aim was the creation of a Socialist Yugoslavia after the war. Since both factions shared some similarities in their goals, particularly those relating to a unified Yugoslavia and anti-Axis resistance, the two sides joined hands and in 1941 started the 13th July uprising, the first organised uprising in occupied Europe. This occurred just two months after Yugoslavia capitulated, and liberated most of Montenegrin territory, but the rebels were unable to regain control of major towns and cities. After the failed attempts to liberate the towns of Pljevlja and Kolasin, the Italians, reinforced by Germans, recaptured all insurgent territory. At the leadership level, disagreements regarding state policy (Centralist monarchy vs. Federal Socialist republic) eventually led to a split between the two sides; they then became enemies from thereon. Constantly, both factions were trying to gain support among the population. The monarchist Chetniks had influential scholars and revolutionaries among their supporters, such as Blažo Đukanović, Zaharije Ostojić, Radojica Perisic, Petar Baćović, Mirko Lalatovic, and Bajo Stanišić, the hero of the anti-fascist uprising. However, eventually the Chetniks in Montenegro lost support among the population, as did other Chetnik factions within Yugoslavia. The de facto leader of the Chetniks in Montenegro, Pavle Djurisic, along with other prominent figures of the movement like Dusan Arsovic and Đorđe Lašić, were held responsible for massacres of Muslim population in eastern Bosnia and Sandzak during 1944. Their ideology of a homogeneous Serbia within Yugoslavia proved to be a major obstacle in recruiting liberals, minorities, and Montenegrins who regarded Montenegro as a nation with its own identity. These factors, in addition to the fact that some Chetniks were negotiating with the Axis, led to the Chetnik Yugoslav army losing support among the Allies in 1943. In the same year, Italy, who was until then in charge of the occupied zone, capitulated and was replaced by Germany, and the fighting continued.

Podgorica was liberated by the socialist Partisans on 19 December 1944, and the war of liberation had been won. Josip Broz Tito acknowledged Montenegro's massive contribution to the war against the Axis powers by establishing it as one of the six republics of Yugoslavia.

From 1945 to 1992, Montenegro became a constituent republic of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia; it was the smallest republic in the federation and had the lowest population. Montenegro became economically stronger than ever, since it gained help from federal funds as an under-developed Republic, and it became a tourist destination as well. After war years proved turbulent and were marked by political eliminations. Krsto Zrnov Popović, the leader of Greens was assassinated in 1947, and 10 years later, in 1957, the last Montenegrin Chetnik Vladimir Šipčić was also murdered. During this period Montenegrin Communists such as Veljko Vlahović, Svetozar Vukmanović-Tempo, Vladimir Popović and Jovo Kapicić held key positions in the federal government of Yugoslavia. In 1948 Yugoslavia faced the Tito-Stalin split, a period of high tensions between Yugoslavia and the USSR caused by disagreements about each country's influences on its neighbours, and the resolution of Informbiro. Political turmoil began within both the communist party and the nation. Pro-Soviet communists faced prosecution and imprisonment in various prisons across Yugoslavia, notably Goli Otok. Many Montenegrins, due to their traditional allegiance with Russia, declared themselves as Soviet-orientated. This political split in the communist party saw the downfall of many important communist leaders, including Montenegrins Arso Jovanović and Vlado Dapčević. Many of the people imprisoned during this period, regardless of nationality, were innocent - this was later recognised by the Yugoslav government. 1954 saw the expulsion of prominent Montenegrin politician Milovan Đilas from the communist party for criticising party leaders for forming a "new ruling class" within, Yugoslavia along with Peko Dapčević.

Through the second half of the 1940s and the whole of the 1950s, the country underwent infrastructural rejuvenation thanks to federal funding. Montenegro's historic capital Cetinje was replaced with Podgorica, which in the inter-war period became the biggest city in the Republic - although it was practically in ruins due to heavy bombing in the last stages of WW II. Podgorica had a more favorable geographical position within Montenegro, and in 1947 the seat of the Republic was moved to the city, now named Titograd in honor to Marshal Tito. Cetinje received the title of 'hero city' within Yugoslavia. Youth work actions built a railway between the two biggest cities of Titograd and Nikšić, as well as an embankment over Skadar lake linking the capital with the major port of Bar. The port of Bar was also rebuilt after being mined during the German retreat in 1944. Other ports that faced infrastructural improvement were Kotor, Risan and Tivat. In 1947 Jugopetrol Kotor was founded. Montenegro's industrialisation was demonstrated through the founding of the electronic company Obod in Cetinje, a steel mill and Trebjesa brewery in Nikšić, and the Podgorica Aluminium Plant in 1969.

All three appeared devout communists on the surface, but they also had sufficient skills and adaptability to understand the dangers of clinging to traditional rigid old-guard tactics in changing times. So when the old Yugoslavia effectively ceased to exist and the multi-party political system replaced it, they quickly repackaged the Montenegrin branch of the old Communist party and renamed it the Democratic Party of Socialists of Montenegro (DPS).

The inheritance of the entire infrastructure, resources and membership of the old Communist party gave the DPS a sizable head start on their opponents in the newly formed parties. It allowed them to win the first multi-party parliamentary election held on 9 and 16 December 1990, and presidential elections held on 9 and 23 December 1990.[12] The party has ruled Montenegro ever since[update] (either alone or as a leading member of different ruling coalitions).

During the early-to-mid-1990s Montenegro's leadership gave considerable support to Milošević's war-effort. Montenegrin reservists fought on the Dubrovnik front line, where Prime Minister Milo Đukanović visited them frequently.

During the 1991–1995 Bosnian War and Croatian War, Montenegro participated with its police and military forces in the attacks on Dubrovnik, Croatia[13] and Bosnian towns along with Serbian troops, aggressive acts aimed at acquiring more territories by force,
characterized by a consistent pattern of gross and systematic violations of
human rights.[14] Montenegrin General Pavle Strugar has since been convicted for his part in the bombing of Dubrovnik.[15]
Bosnian refugees were arrested by Montenegrin police and transported to Serb camps in Foča, where they were subjected to systematic torture and executed.[16]

In May 1992, the United Nations imposed an embargo on FRY: this affected many aspects of life in the country.

Due to its favourable geographical location (access to the Adriatic Sea and a water-link to Albania across Lake Skadar) Montenegro became a hub for smuggling activity. The entire Montenegrin industrial production had stopped, and the republic's main economic activity became the smuggling of user goods - especially those in short supply like petrol and cigarettes, both of which skyrocketed in price. It became a de facto legalized practice and it went on for years. At best, the Montenegrin government turned a blind eye to the illegal activity, but mostly it took an active part in it. Smuggling made millionaires out of all sorts of shady individuals, including senior government officials. Milo Đukanović continues to face actions in various Italian courts over his role in widespread smuggling during the 1990s and in providing safe haven in Montenegro for different Italian Mafia figures who also allegedly took part in the smuggling distribution chain.

In 1997 a bitter dispute over presidential election results took place. It ended with Milo Đukanović winning over Momir Bulatović in a second-round run-off plagued with irregularities. Nonetheless, the authorities allowed the results to stand. Former close allies had by this time become bitter foes, which resulted in a near-warlike atmosphere in Montenegro for months during the autumn of 1997. It also split the Democratic Party of Socialists of Montenegro. Bulatović and his followers broke away to form the Socialist People's Party of Montenegro (SNP), staying loyal to Milošević, whereas Đukanović began to distance himself from Serbia. This distance from the policies of Milošević played a role in sparing Montenegro from the heavy bombing that Serbia endured in the spring of 1999 during the NATO air-campaign.

Đukanović came out a clear winner from this political fight, as he never lost power for even a day. Bulatović, on the other hand, never held office again in Montenegro after 1997 and eventually retired from politics in 2001.

During the Kosovo War, ethnic Albanians took refuge in Montenegro, but were still under threat by Serbian soldiers, who were able to take refugees back into Serbian controlled areas and imprison them.[17]

In the spring of 1999, at the height of the NATO offensives, 21 Albanians died in several separate and unexplained incidents in Montenegro, according to the republic’s prosecutor. Another group of around 60 Albanian refugees was fired upon in Kaludjerski Laz by Yugoslav Army members, leading to the death of six people, including a woman aged 80 and a child, killed in crossfire that allegedly came from three machine-gun posts of the then Yugoslav Army.[18]
In all, 23 Albanians were killed in Kaludjerski Laz, and Montenegrin prosecutors have charged 8 soldiers, among which is Predrag Strugar, son of convicted Montenegrin war criminal General Pavle Strugar, with "inhuman treatment against civilians".[19] During the war Montenegro was bombed as part of NATO operations against Yugoslavia, though not as heavily as Serbia. The targets were mostly military ones such as Golubovci Airbase. According to some reports, the airport was attacked because of an operation Yugoslav pilots undertook on 26 April, when they (without knowledge of supreme command) flew over a border into Albania with 4 G-4 Super Galebs and bombed Rinas Airport which housed 24 AH-64 Apache helicopters and parts of 82nd Airborne Division. They ended up with destroying nine Apaches and damaging the rest while also destroying Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) training camps in the vicinity of airport.Eight civilian casualties are reported during the course of the war. During the operation,allegedly 10 aircraft were shot down over Montenegro. The first one was Luftwaffe's Tornado IDS, eventually crashed in Skadar Lake, and the second one was Mirage 2000 of French Air Force, whose pilot catapulted before plane crashed in mountain Rumija. Apparently both planes were shot on 15.04.1999. The rest of them are Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) downed on various locations,including Valdanos, but the only model that has been identified is IAI RQ-5 Hunter, downed in Bay of Kotor on 28 May. However, this has never been confirmed.

In 2003, after years of wrangling and outside assistance, the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia renamed itself as "Serbia and Montenegro" and officially reconstituted itself as a loose union. The State Union had a parliament and an army in common, and for three years (until 2006), neither Serbia nor Montenegro held a referendum on the break-up of the union. However, a referendum was announced in Montenegro to decide the future of the republic. The ballots cast in the controversial 2006 independence referendum resulted in a 55.5% victory for independence supporters, just above the 55% borderline mark set by the EU. Montenegro declared independence on 3 June 2006.

For 16 October 2016, the day of the parliamentary election, a coup d'état against the government of Milo Đukanović had been prepared, according to the Montenegrin Special Prosecutor.[20] Fourteen people, including two Russian nationals and two Montenegrin opposition leaders, Andrija Mandić and Milan Knežević, were indicted for their alleged roles in the coup attempt on charges such as "preparing a conspiracy against the constitutional order and the security of Montenegro" and an "attempted terrorist act."[20]

In June 2017, Montenegro formally became a member of NATO, an eventuality that had been rejected by about half of the country′s population and had triggered a promise of retaliatory actions on the part of Russia′s government.[21][22][23]

1.
Praevalitana
–
Praevalitana was a Late Roman province that existed between 284 and 476. It included parts of present-day Montenegro, northern Albania, and southwestern Serbia, four client-republics were set up, which were in fact controlled by Rome. Later, Illyricum was directly governed by Rome and organized as a Roman province, Illyricum was split into two in 10 AD, Pannonia and Dalmatia. The province of Dalmatia spread inland to cover all of the Dinaric Alps and most of the eastern Adriatic coast, the Diocese of Moesia was later divided in two, the Diocese of Dacia in the north and the Diocese of Macedonia to the south. Praevalitana initially was part of the Diocese of Macedonia but later moved into the Diocese of Dacia, a province of brief existence, Macedonia Salutaris, was divided between Praevalitana and Epirus Nova. After the Western Roman Empire collapsed in 476, with the beginning of the Migration Period, Dalmatia first came under Byzantine control in the 530s, when the generals of Emperor Justinian I seized it from the Ostrogoths in the Gothic War. Circa 400, the Archdiocese of Doclea was established, which lasted till 927, the Docleatae inhabited the fertile valley of the River Zeta, located along the vital link between the coastal and continental regions of Montenegro, which helped their swift economic rise. The other tribe, the Labeates, inhabited the area between Lake Skadar and modern Podgorica. They had their main fortification, called Metheon, and very developed social, from the 5th century, the settling of Slavic and Avaric tribes began in this area, always coupled with destructive raids on the native tribes and settlements. Doclea was not exempt from these violent raids, which would, eventually, along with natural disasters, after the Slavic tribes settled in this area they established another settlement, which took over the role previously held by Doclea, it was named Ribnica. Other cities in the province included Anderva and Risinium, le christianisme sur le sol de lIllyricum oriental jusquà larrivée des Slaves

2.
Duklja
–
Between 1043 and 1080, under Mihailo Vojislavljević, and his son, Constantine Bodin, Duklja saw its apogee. Mihailo was given the nominal title King of Slavs by the Pope after having left the Byzantine camp and supported a Slavic uprising in the Balkans, in which his son Bodin played a central part. Having incorporated the Serbian hinterland and installed vassal rulers there, this maritime principality emerged as the most powerful Serb polity, between 1113 and 1149 Duklja was the centre of Serbian–Byzantine conflict, with members of the Vojislavljević as protégés of either fighting each other for power. In historiography, K. Jirechek was the first to use Duklja, Doclea was originally the name of the Roman city on the site of modern Podgorica, built by Roman Emperor Diocletian, who hailed from this region of Roman Dalmatia. The Romanized Illyrian tribe known as Docleatae that inhabited the area derived their name from the city, in later centuries, the Romans hypercorrected the name to Dioclea, wrongly guessing that an i had been lost due to vulgar speech patterns. Duklja is the later Slavic version of the name of this region, the demonym, or tribal name, appearing in De Administrando Imperio was Dioklitianoi. According to De Administrando Imperio, in chapter 35, Diokleia included the large, inhabited cities of Gradetai, Nougrade, Gradetai may have been Starigrad, Nougrad may have been Prevlaka, while the location of Lontodokla is uncertain. Since the 12th century, the term Zeta began to replace the name Duklja, DAI mentions Croats and Serbs having settled the Western Balkans, the Serbs having founded baptized Serbia which included the land of Bosna. The other Serb-inhabited lands that were mentioned in the DAI included the maritime Paganija, Zahumlje and Travunija, all of the maritime lands bordered Serbia to the north. The DAI has been a widely used source in reconstructing the earliest histories of the South Slavic states, the DAI claims that Duklja had been made desolate by the Avars and repopulated in the time of the Emperor Heraclius, just as were Croatia and Serbia, by Slavs. Fine argues given that Serbs settled in regions along its borders, ivo Banac proposed that the DAI mention that a part of the Croats split off and took control of Illyricum and Pannonia after settling northern Dalmatia could be connected to Duklja. The dubious Chronicle of the Priest of Duklja, compiled in 1298–1301 by a Cistercian monk in the service of Paul I Šubić of Bribir, refers to Croats in southern Dalmatia. If this is not mere Byzantine confusion over Serbs and Croats, scholars have debated at length as to the reliability of such sources. Ultimately, the origins of Duklja are not known with certainty, moreover, what actually constituted a people in the Middle Ages has been rigorously debated. There is no evidence that peoples known as Serbs or Croats migrated en masse as coherent nations. Rather, some sort of group identity began to form within the Balkans from the late 7th century as Slavic notables formed a system of alliances and this coincides with the final demise of Avar hegemony over the western Balkans. At the same time, the Byzantines had begun to re-establish some control in parts of the Balkans after the 7th century collapse of imperial control, the establishment of the Byzantine theme of Dyrrhachium facilitated diplomatic contacts between the East Romans and the Adriatic Sclaviniae. There is little evidence that a notion of nation-type ethnicity

3.
Venetian Albania
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Venetian Albania was the name for the possessions of the Republic of Venice on the Southeastern Adriatic coast that existed from 1420 to 1797. It consisted of the Bay of Kotor, although initially it covered the area of what is now Montenegro and northern Albania. The term Venetian Albania was used by the Republic for their initial possessions that stretched from the borders of the Republic of Ragusa to Durazzo in coastal Albania. The Venetian territories usually reached only 20 km from the Adriatic Sea, between 1478 and 1571 the territories in what is today Albania were lost. After 1573 the southern limit was moved to the village of Kufin near Budva, because of the Ottoman conquests of Antivari, Dulcigno, Scutari, and Durazzo. The Venetian territory was centered on the area of the Bay of Kotor, and included the towns of Kotor, Risan, Perast, Tivat, Herceg Novi, Budva. After 1797, the territory of Venetian Albania began stretching after the Republic of Ragusa, including the enclaves of Cattaro, the Venetians periodically controlled the small southern Dalmatian villages around the 10th century, but did not permanently assume control until 1420. The Venetians assimilated the Dalmatian language into the Venetian dialect quickly, the Venetian territories around Kotor lasted from 1420 to 1797 and were called Venetian Albania, a province of the Venetian Republic. In those years Venetian Albania was relatively rich and the area around the city of Cattaro enjoyed a huge cultural, when the Ottoman Empire started to conquer the Balkans in the 15th century, the population of Christian Slavs in Dalmatia increased greatly. As a consequence of this, by the end of the 17th century the Romance-speaking population of the historical Venetian Albania was a minority, in 1814 it was again included in the Austrian Empire. Kotor Perast, once part of Venetian Albania, was at its peak in the 18th century, when it had as many as four active shipyards, a fleet of around a hundred ships. At that time a number of significant buildings were constructed in this fortified town. Many ornate baroque palaces and houses were decorated the town of Perast, citizens of Perast enjoyed privileges from the Venetian Republic. They were allowed to trade with large ships and to sell goods without tax on the Venetian market, Budva In Agents of Empire, Noel Malcolm traces the lives of Albanian noble families in the end of 16th century. In addition to being the language of institutions, for Albanian inhabitants Italian was the language of culture, there have been notable Italian-language writers in the 15th to the 18th century who originated from Venetian Albania, notably Giovanni Bona Boliris, Cristoforo Ivanovich and Ludovico Pasquali. Zur Stellung Albaniens in den Handelsbeziehungen zwischen der Balkan- und der Appenninenhalbinsel, in, Münchner Zeitschrift für Balkankunde 4 1-10. Der venezianische Türkenkrieg im Jahre 1690 nach den Briefen des päpstlichen Offiziers Guido Bonaventura, intorno agli stabilimenti politici della repubblica veneta nellAlbania. In, Atti del Regio Istituto veneto di scienze, lettere ed arti, memorie politico-economiche della citta e territorio di Trieste, della penisola d’Istria, della Dalmazia fu Veneta, di Ragusi e dell’Albania, ora congiunti all’Austriaco Impero

4.
Sanjak of Scutari
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The Sanjak of Scutari or Sanjak of Shkodra was one of the sanjaks of the Ottoman Empire. It was established after Ottoman Empire acquired Shkodra after the siege of Shkodra in 1478-9 and it was part of Rumelia Eyalet until 1867, when it became a part, together with Sanjak of Skopje, of newly established Scutari Vilayet. In 1912 and beginning of 1913 it was occupied by members of Balkan League during the First Balkan War, in 1914 the territory of Sanjak of Scutari became a part of Principality of Albania, established on the basis of peace contract signed during London Conference in 1913. With short interruptions, the territory of northern Albania, including what would become the Sanjak of Scutari, the first Ottoman censuses show a substantial presence of Slavic toponyms. The last Slavic dynasty that controlled Shkodra was Balšić noble family, since he was appointed on the position of sanjakbey of the Scutari in 1496, Feriz Beg had intention to annex Zeta to Ottoman Empire. Đurađ Crnojević who controlled neighboring Principality of Zeta maintained frequent correspondence with other Christian feudal states with intention to establish an anti-Ottoman coalition. When his brother, Stefan, betrayed him to Ottomans in 1496, Feriz Beg refused this proposal and invited Đurađ to either come to Scutari to clarify his anti-Ottoman activities or to flee Zeta. When Firuz Beg attacked Zeta with strong forces in 1496 Đurađ decided to flee to Venice, in 1497 Firuz Beg captured Grbalj and put Zeta under his effective military control, although it was still part of the Zeta governed by Stefan II Crnojević. In 1499 Feriz Beg formally annexed Zeta to the territory of his Sanjak of Scutari, in 1514, this territory was separated from the Sanjak of Scutari and established as a separate sanjak, under the rule of Skenderbeg Crnojević. When he died in 1528, the Sanjak of Montenegro was reincorporated into the Sanjak of Scutari as an administrative unit with certain degree of autonomy. The census of 1582—1583 registered the vilayet of the Black Mountain as separate administrative unit within Sanjak of Scutari, marino Bizzi, the Archbishop of Bar, in his 1610 report stated that name of the sanjakbey of Sanjak of Scutari was Ali Pasha. In the period between 1757 and 1831, the Sanjak of Scutari was elevated to the Pashalik of Scutari and its territory encompassed parts of modern-day northern Albania and Montenegro, with its center in city of Shkodër. The weakening of Ottoman central authority and the system of land ownership brought anarchy to the West Balkans region of Ottoman Empire. In the late 18th century, two centers of power emerged in this region, Shkodër, under the Bushati family, and Janina, both regions cooperated with and defied the Sublime Porte as their interests required. Before 1867, Shkodër was a sanjak within the Rumelia Eyalet, in 1867, the Sanjak of Scutari merged with the Sanjak of Üsküb, forming the Scutari Vilayet. The vilayet was divided into three sanjaks, İșkodra, Prizren and Dibra. In 1877, the Sanjak of Prizren was transferred to the Kosovo Vilayet, following the territorial transfers, the Sanjak of Scutari was subsequently divided into two sanjaks, Sanjak of Scutari and Sanjak of Draç. In 1900, the Vilayet of Scutari was disestablished, demerging into two sanjaks, Sanjak of Scutari and Sanjak of Durrës

5.
Sanjak of Herzegovina
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The Sanjak of Herzegovina was an Ottoman administrative unit established in 1470. The seat was in Foča until 1572 when it was moved to Taşlıca, the sanjak was initially part of the Eyalet of Rumelia but was administrated into the Eyalet of Bosnia following its establishment in 1580. In November 1481 Ayas, an Ottoman general, attacked Novi, the sanjak was established between 1483 and 1485. In 1485, Novi was established as a kadiluk of the sanjak of Herzegovina, in 1572, the seat of the sanjak was moved from Foča to Pljevlja. The Banat Uprising had been aided by Serbian Orthodox metropolitans Rufim Njeguš of Cetinje, in 1596 revolts spread into Ottoman Montenegro and the neighbouring tribes in Herzegovina, especially under influence of Metropolitan Visarion. In 1596, Grdan, vojvoda of Nikšić, and Serbian Patriarch Jovan Kantul led rebels against the Ottomans but were defeated on the Gacko Field in 1597, however, Grdan and Patriarch Jovan would continue to plan revolts against the Ottomans in the coming years. In 1737, Bogić Vučković and his brothers organized an uprising in Herzegovina during the Austro-Turkish War, at the beginning of the 19th century, the Bosnia Eyalet was one of the least developed and more autonomous provinces of the Empire. In 1831, Bosnian kapudan Husein Gradaščević occupied Travnik, demanding autonomy, ultimately, exploiting the rivalries between beys and kapudans, the grand vizier succeeded in detaching the Herzegovinian forces, led by Ali-paša Rizvanbegović, from Gradaščevićs. This new entity lasted only for a few years, being re-integrated into the Bosnia Eyalet after Rizvanbegovićs death, in March 1852, Ottoman general Omar Pasha decided to disarm the Herzegovinians, which sparked an outrage in the region. The chieftain of the Herzegovinians was Luka Vukalović, the refusal of giving up arms resulted in minor fights between Herzegovinians and Turks, which in turn resulted in an uprising, which Vukalović would lead. In 1875, a an uprising broke out in Herzegovina, led by local Serbs against their Ottoman Bosnian lords who treated them harshly, the Austro-Hungarian occupation and Montenegrin expansion of Old Herzegovina marks the end of the Sanjak of Herzegovina. 1477 defter of Ottoman Herzegovina - part

6.
Prince-Bishopric of Montenegro
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Prince-Bishopric of Montenegro was аn ecclesiastical principality that existed from 1696 until 1852. The history starts with Danilo Šćepčević, a bishop of Cetinje who united several clans of Montenegro into fighting the Ottoman Empire that had occupied most of southeastern Europe. Danilo was the first of the House of Petrović-Njegoš to occupy the office as Metropolitan of Cetinje until 1851, also, it became a brief monarchy when it was temporary abolished 1767–1773, when impostor Little Stephen, posed as Russian Emperor and crowned himself Lord of Montenegro. The state was virtually the Metropolitanate of Zeta under the supervision of the Petrović-Njegoš family, the name mostly used in historiography is Metropolitanate of Cetinje or Cetinje Metropolitanate. The highest office-holder of the polity was the Metropolitan, Metropolitan Danilo I called himself Danil, Metropolitan of Cetinje, Njegoš, Duke of the Serb land. When Bjelopavlići and the rest of the Hills was joined into the state during the rule of Peter I, it was officially called Black Mountain, travers Twiss used the English term Prince-Bishopric of Montenegro, for the first time, in 1861. Zeta became an Ottoman polity in 1498, when Ivan Crnojević became an Ottoman vassal, in 1514, it was established as a sanjak, by order of Sultan Bayezid II. The first sanjak-bey was Ivans son Skenderbeg Crnojević, who had converted into Islam, by 1534, the last of the Crnojević family retired to Venice. The Serbian Orthodox bishops of Cetinje remained the leaders, while tribal chieftains ruled in their various regions. The legitimacy of Prince-Bishops in Montenegro derives from semi-legendary event which occurred on the turn of the 15 and it is not certain who this Metropolitan was, some sources cite Vavila, while others cite German II, with almost 30 years gap among the two. Venetian documents do register the Zbor for the first time in 1500, however, in 19th-century romantic historiography this event created a theory, today generally considered obsolete, that Montenegro never formally subjected to the Ottoman empire. The event was throughfully descriped by Vladika Petar I in his Short history of Montenegro, the theory was first challenged by Ilarion Ruvarac. Cloudy period of the first decade of 16th century lay ground for such beliefs and it is claimed that Đurađ actually vested his power in Metropolitans and that from then on, they ruled Montenegro. Metropolitan was always elected by tribal assembly and approved by Patriarch of Peć and this custom was changed two centuries later with the historical appearance of Prince-Bishop Danilo, the founder of Petrović-Njegoš dynasty. The modern historiography ussualy affiliates the institution of Prince-Bishop with him, the Ottomans established an administrational-territorial area, the Montenegro Vilayet, in the context of autonomy. The first vladika, elected by the assembly, Metropolitan Danilo I Petrović-Njegoš. Metropolitan Danilo was succeeded by Metropolitan Sava and Metropolitan Vasilije, Sava was predominantly occupied with clerical duties and did not enjoy as much charisma among tribal heads as his predecessor did. However, he managed to keep relations with Russia

7.
Principality of Montenegro
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The Principality of Montenegro was a former realm in Southeastern Europe that existed from 13 March 1852 to 28 August 1910. It was then proclaimed a kingdom by Nikola I, who became king. The capital was Cetinje and the Montenegrin perper was used as state currency from 1906, the territory corresponded to the central area of modern Montenegro. It was a monarchy, but de facto absolutist. In Danilo Is Code, dated to 1855, he states that he is the knjaz and gospodar of the Free Black Mountain. In 1870, Nikola had the title of knjaz of Crna Gora and Brda, with the first Montenegrin constitution being proclaimed in 1855, known as Danilos Code. After centuries of rule, this turned Montenegro into a secular principality. Grand Duke Mirko Petrović, elder brother of Danilo I, led an army of 7,500. This victory forced the Great Powers to officially demarcate the borders between Montenegro and Ottoman Turkey, de facto recognizing Montenegros centuries-long independence. Montenegro gained Grahovo, Rudine, Nikšić, more than half of Drobnjaci, Tušina, Uskoci, Lipovo, Upper Vasojevići, the glory of the Montenegrins was soon immortalized in songs and literature of all South Slavs. After the assassination of Knjaz Danilo on 13 August 1860, Knjaz Nikola I, Nikola sent aid to the Serb rebels in the Herzegovina Uprising, and then led a war against the Ottomans, the Montenegrin–Ottoman War. Montenegro also gained the towns of Nikšić, Kolašin, Spuž, Podgorica, Žabljak, Bar, under the rule of Nikola I, diplomatic relations were established with the Ottoman Empire. Minor border skirmishes excepted, diplomacy ushered in approximately 30 years of peace between the two states until the deposition of Abdul Hamid II, the political skills of Abdul Hamid and Nikola I played a major role on the mutually amicable relations. Modernization of the state followed, culminating with the draft of a Constitution in 1905, however, political rifts emerged between the parliamentary Peoples Party that supported the process of democratization and union with Serbia and those of the True Peoples Party who were monarchist. Danilo I Nikola I The historical war flags were the krstaš-barjak, the same flag was used in Cetinje in 1878, upon recognition of independence by the Ottoman Empire at San Stefano. According to the 1905 constitution, the flag was a tricolour of red-blue-white. Danilo I used the Law of Petar I Petrović-Njegoš, as an inspiration for his own General Law of the Land from 1855, Danilos Code was based on Montenegrin traditions and customs and it is considered to be the first national constitution in Montenegrin history. It also stated rules, protected privacy and banned warring on the Austrian Coast, at the beginning of the 20th century political differences were starting to culminate

8.
Sanjak of Novi Pazar
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The Sanjak of Novi Pazar was an Ottoman sanjak that existed at times from 1864 until the Balkan Wars of 1912–13 in the territory of present-day Montenegro, Serbia and Kosovo. Today, the region is known as Raška and Sandžak, in 1456, Isaković began building the town, establishing a marketplace, a mosque, a public bath, a hostel, and a compound. Novi Pazar initially belonged to the Jeleč vilayet of the Skopsko Krajište, there were also the vilayets of Ras and Sjenica. By 1463, Jeleč was incorporated into the larger Sanjak of Bosnia, the seat of the kadı was subsequently transferred from Jeleč to Novi Pazar little before 1485, which led to the foundation of a separate Sanjak of Novi Pazar administered within the Rumelia Eyalet. After promotion of the Bosnian Sanjak into an eyalet in 1580, throughout its existence it included most of the present day Sandžak region, also called Raška, as well as northern parts of Kosovo. High military authorities desired immediate major expedition with Salonika as its objective, on 28 September 1878 the Finance Minister, Koloman von Zell, threatened to resign if the army, behind which stood the Archduke Albert, were allowed to advance to Salonika. The motion was lost by 179 to 95, by the Opposition rank and file the gravest accusations were raised against Andrassy. This Austro-Hungarian expansion southward at the expense of the Ottoman Empire was designed to prevent the extension of Russian influence and the union of Serbia and Montenegro. In 1880, the Sanjak of Pljevlja was established, which included the kaza of Pljevlja, Prijepolje, and the mundirate in Priboj, in 1902, the Sanjak of Sjenica was established, which included the districts of Sjenica, Nova Varoš, Bijelo Polje and Lower Kolašin. At the beginning of 1908, Austria-Hungary announced intentions to build a railway through the Sanjak towards Ottoman Macedonia, however, in negotiations with Russia the Austro-Hungarians indicated they would be willing to vacate the Sanjak in exchange for recognition of the annexation of Bosnia-Herzegovina. The Sanjak of Novi Pazar was mainly populated by Slavic-speaking Muslims, Serbs, Albanian Muslims, some important cities in the sanjak were. The Sanjak of Novi Pazar is a song in the 1973 novel Gravitys Rainbow by Thomas Pynchon, the Sanjak of Novipazar was an American band, inspired by fellow parody-rock acts, The Fugs and The Mothers of Invention. From 1967-1968, The Sanjak of Novipazar frequented WBAIs Bob Fass show, the group performed at the Woodstock Sound-Outs festival in 1968. Salnâme-i Vilâyet-i Kosova, Yedinci defa olarak vilâyet matbaasında tab olunmuştur,1896 Kosova vilâyet-i salnâmesi, İstanbul, Rumeli Türkleri Kültür ve Dayanışma Derneği

9.
Kingdom of Montenegro
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The Kingdom of Montenegro, was a monarchy in southeastern Europe, present day Montenegro, during the tumultuous years on the Balkan Peninsula leading up to and during World War I. Legally it was a monarchy, but absolutist in practice. Prince Nicholas of Montenegro proclaimed the Kingdom of Montenegro in Cetinje on 28 August 1910, Montenegro joined the First Balkan War in 1912, hoping to win a share in the last Ottoman-controlled areas of Rumelia. Montenegro did make further territorial gains by splitting Sandžak with Serbia on 30 May 1913, when the Second Balkan War broke out in June 1913, Serbia fought against Bulgaria, and King Nicholas sided with Serbia. Once again Montenegro found itself tossed into war, in which it won substantial additional territory, during World War I Montenegro allied itself with the Triple Entente, in line with King Nicholas pro-Serbian policy. Accordingly, Austria-Hungary occupied Montenegro from 15 January 1916 to October 1918, on 20 July 1917, the signing of the Corfu Declaration foreshadowed the unification of Montenegro with Serbia. On 26 November 1918, Podgorica Assembly, an elected body claiming to represent Montenegrin people, unanimously adopted a resolution deposing king Nicholas I and unifying Montenegro with Serbia. During World War II, the forces in Yugoslavia considered turning the Italian governorate of Montenegro into a puppet kingdom. King Nikola and the expansion of Montenegro, 1914-1920. Media related to Kingdom of Montenegro at Wikimedia Commons Kingdom of Montenegro in 1918 Map Map Montenegro - World Statesmen

10.
Subdivisions of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia
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The subdivisions of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia existed successively in three different forms. From 1918 to 1922, the kingdom maintained the pre-World War I subdivisions of Yugoslavias predecessor states, in 1922, the state was divided into 33 oblasts or provinces and, in 1929, a new system of nine banates was implemented. These bore no relation to the earlier divisions and their borders were intentionally drawn so that they would not correspond either to boundaries between ethnic groups, or to pre-World War I imperial borders. They were named after geographic features, mostly rivers. Slight changes to their borders were made in 1931 with the new Yugoslav Constitution, like Sava, its capital was Zagreb. United States of Greater Austria Kingdom of Yugoslavia Map of Yugoslav banates

11.
Zeta Banovina
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The Zeta Banovina or Zeta Banate was a province of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia between 1929 and 1941. This province consisted of all of the present-day Montenegro as well as adjacent parts of Central Serbia, Kosovo, Croatia and it was named for the Zeta River which also gave its name to the medieval state of Zeta that roughly corresponded to modern Montenegro. The capital city of the Zeta Banovina was Cetinje, then the boundary coincides, up to the Adriatic Sea, with the Yugoslav-Albanian State frontier. In 1939, ethnic Croat areas of the Zeta Banovina from the Bay of Kotor to Pelješac including Dubrovnik were merged with a new Banovina of Croatia, in 1941, the World War II Axis Powers occupied the remaining area of the Zeta Banovina. A small area around the Gulf of Kotor was annexed by Fascist Italy while much of the rest was joined with Italian-occupied Montenegro, eastern areas were made part of German-occupied Serbia and western areas part of Independent State of Croatia. Following World War II, the region was divided between Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, and Croatia within a federal Socialist Yugoslavia, according to the 1931 census, the Zeta Banovina had a population of 925,516 and an area of 30,997 km²

12.
Italian governorate of Montenegro
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The Italian governorate of Montenegro existed from October 1941 to September 1943 as an occupied territory under military government of Fascist Italy during World War II. Although the Italians had intended to establish a quasi-independent Montenegrin kingdom, following the Italian surrender in September 1943, the territory of Montenegro was occupied by German forces which withdrew in December 1944. Prior to the creation of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, immediately prior to the creation of the KSCS in December 1918, the Kingdom of Montenegro was unified with the Kingdom of Serbia and ceased to exist as an independent state. From 1922 onward, as part of the KSCS and then Yugoslavia and this population movement also achieved a political goal of increasing the Serb population in those areas. After 1929, the Zeta Banovina of Yugoslavia included all of modern-day Montenegro, as well as adjacent parts of modern-day Serbia, Kosovo, Croatia, as in former Montenegrin states, the capital of the Zeta Banovina was Cetinje. In August 1939, ethnic Croat areas of the Zeta Banovina from the Bay of Kotor to Pelješac including Dubrovnik were merged with a new Banovina of Croatia, the last Ban of Zeta Banovina was Blažo Đukanović, a former brigadier general in the Royal Yugoslav Army. In April 1941, as part of the German-led Axis invasion of Yugoslavia, the Zeta Banovina was attacked, by the Germans from Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Italians moved through on 16 April on their way towards Dalmatia. The Germans later withdrew, leaving the Italians to occupy the area, the occupation forces initially consisted of the 18th Infantry Division Messina, which was part of the Italian XVII Corps of the 9th Army, which had its headquarters in Albania. The 9th Army was also responsible for parts of Kosovo. On 28 April, Count Serafino Mazzolini was appointed the commissioner for Montenegro. Italian flags were distributed and flown, photographs of Benito Mussolini and King of Italy were displayed in public offices, arrangements were made to form Fascist Party organisations, and strict censorship was imposed. Italian bureaucrats were tasked to supervise the finances of public bodies, insurance companies and banks, on their arrival in Cetinje, the Italian forces had been met by the group of separatists known as Greens, who called themselves the Committee for the Liberation of Montenegro. This group was encouraged by the Italians to form a council to advise the occupation authorities, the Interim Advisory Committee was symbolically vested with civil powers, but the Italian military remained the real decision-makers. The Committee really only drew support from the Greens, who overestimated what the Italians were offering for their collaboration. On 22 May, the Interim Advisory Committee was dissolved, on 19 June, Mazzolini was appointed as High Commissioner, responsible to the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs for matters of civil administration in the occupied territory. The Italians were friendly and lenient towards the Montenegrins and they also believed that all members of the Greens who had opposed union with Serbia in 1918 wanted full independence for Montenegro, rather than a Montenegrin unit within a federal Yugoslavia. In reality, the Greens consisted of two factions, one led by Krsto Popović and one by Sekula Drljević, Drljević rejected the idea of the re-formation of Yugoslavia after the war, and was willing to work with the Italians to achieve independence. The Montenegrins quickly developed grievances against the Italians, around 400 former Yugoslav Army officers returned to Montenegro, along with many non-commissioned officers, civil administrators and communists

13.
Montenegro
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Montenegro is a sovereign state in Southeastern Europe. Its capital and largest city is Podgorica, while Cetinje is designated as the Old Royal Capital. In the 9th century, three Slavic principalities were in the territory of Montenegro, Duklja, roughly corresponding to the half, Travunia, the west, and Rascia. In 1042, archon Stefan Vojislav led a revolt that resulted in the independence of Duklja, Duklja reached its zenith under Vojislavs son, Mihailo, and his grandson Bodin. By the 13th century, Zeta had replaced Duklja when referring to the realm. In the late 14th century, southern Montenegro came under the rule of the Balšić noble family, then the Crnojević noble family, large portions fell under the control of the Ottoman Empire from 1496 to 1878. Parts were controlled by Venice and the First French Empire and Austria-Hungary, from 1515 until 1851, the prince-bishops of Cetinje were the rulers. The House of Petrović-Njegoš ruled the country from 1697 to 1918, from 1918, it was a part of Kingdom of Yugoslavia, which was succeeded by SFR Yugoslavia in 1945, FR Yugoslavia in 1992, and subsequently by the state union of Serbia and Montenegro in 2003. On the basis of a referendum held on 21 May 2006. Montenegro is also a candidate negotiating to join the European Union, on 2 December 2015, Montenegro received an official invitation to join NATO, whereby it would be the 29th member country. This invitation was meant to start accession talks. The countrys name in most Western European languages reflects an adaptation of the Venetian Montenegro, many other languages, particularly nearby ones, use their own direct translation of the term black mountain. Examples are the Albanian name for the country, Mali i Zi, the Greek name Μαυροβούνιο, the Chinese name 黑山, all Slavic languages use slight variations on the Montenegrin name Crna Gora, examples include the Czech Černá Hora and the Polish Czarnogóra. Chechen and Ingush people call the country Ӏаьржаламанчоь, the name Crna Gora came to denote the majority of contemporary Montenegro only in the 15th century. The aforementioned region became known as Old Montenegro by the 19th century to distinguish it from the acquired territory of Brda. Its borders have changed little since then, losing Metohija and gaining the Bay of Kotor, the ISO Alpha-2 code for Montenegro is ME and the Alpha-3 Code is MNE. By 1000 BC, a common Illyrian language and culture had spread across much of the Balkans, interaction amongst groups was not always friendly – hill forts were the most common form of settlement – but distinctive Illyrian art forms such as amber and bronze jewellery evolved. In time, the Illyrians established a federation of tribes centred in what is now Macedonia

14.
Middle Ages
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In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or Medieval Period lasted from the 5th to the 15th century. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and merged into the Renaissance, the Middle Ages is the middle period of the three traditional divisions of Western history, classical antiquity, the medieval period, and the modern period. The medieval period is subdivided into the Early, High. Population decline, counterurbanisation, invasion, and movement of peoples, the large-scale movements of the Migration Period, including various Germanic peoples, formed new kingdoms in what remained of the Western Roman Empire. In the seventh century, North Africa and the Middle East—once part of the Byzantine Empire—came under the rule of the Umayyad Caliphate, although there were substantial changes in society and political structures, the break with classical antiquity was not complete. The still-sizeable Byzantine Empire survived in the east and remained a major power, the empires law code, the Corpus Juris Civilis or Code of Justinian, was rediscovered in Northern Italy in 1070 and became widely admired later in the Middle Ages. In the West, most kingdoms incorporated the few extant Roman institutions, monasteries were founded as campaigns to Christianise pagan Europe continued. The Franks, under the Carolingian dynasty, briefly established the Carolingian Empire during the later 8th, the Crusades, first preached in 1095, were military attempts by Western European Christians to regain control of the Holy Land from Muslims. Kings became the heads of centralised nation states, reducing crime and violence, intellectual life was marked by scholasticism, a philosophy that emphasised joining faith to reason, and by the founding of universities. Controversy, heresy, and the Western Schism within the Catholic Church paralleled the conflict, civil strife. Cultural and technological developments transformed European society, concluding the Late Middle Ages, the Middle Ages is one of the three major periods in the most enduring scheme for analysing European history, classical civilisation, or Antiquity, the Middle Ages, and the Modern Period. Medieval writers divided history into periods such as the Six Ages or the Four Empires, when referring to their own times, they spoke of them as being modern. In the 1330s, the humanist and poet Petrarch referred to pre-Christian times as antiqua, leonardo Bruni was the first historian to use tripartite periodisation in his History of the Florentine People. Bruni and later argued that Italy had recovered since Petrarchs time. The Middle Ages first appears in Latin in 1469 as media tempestas or middle season, in early usage, there were many variants, including medium aevum, or middle age, first recorded in 1604, and media saecula, or middle ages, first recorded in 1625. The alternative term medieval derives from medium aevum, tripartite periodisation became standard after the German 17th-century historian Christoph Cellarius divided history into three periods, Ancient, Medieval, and Modern. The most commonly given starting point for the Middle Ages is 476, for Europe as a whole,1500 is often considered to be the end of the Middle Ages, but there is no universally agreed upon end date. English historians often use the Battle of Bosworth Field in 1485 to mark the end of the period

15.
Dalmatia (Roman province)
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Its name is probably derived from the name of an Illyrian tribe called the Dalmatae which lived in the central area of the eastern coast of the Adriatic Sea. Originally this region was called Illyria or Illyricum, when it became one of the two parts of the Roman province of Illyricum it was renamed Dalmatia, its counterpart province being Pannonia. Later the province of Illyricum was dissolved and replaced by two provinces, Dalmatia and Pannonia. It is not clear when this happened, but plausibly it occurred during the reign of the emperor Vespasian, the region which run along the coast of the Adriatic Sea and extended inland on the Dinaric Alps was called Illyria by the Greeks. Originally the Romans also called it Illyria, the Romans fought three Illyrian Wars mainly against the kingdom of the Ardiaei in the south of the region. In 168 BC they abolished this kingdom, divided it into three republics, the area became a Roman protectorate. The central and northern area of the region engaged in piracy, in response to this, Octavian conducted a series of campaigns in Illyricum. The area became the Roman province of Illyricum probably in 27 BC, due to troubles in the northern part of the region in 16-10 BC, it became an imperial province. The administrative organisation of Illyricum was carried out late in the reign of Augustus, due to Octavian having subdued the more inland region of Pannonia, the Romans changed the name of the coastal area to Dalmatia. Illyricum was composed of Dalmatia and Pannonia, in 6-9 AD there was a large scale rebellion in the province of Illyricum, the Bellum Batonianum. The province of Illyricum was eventually dissolved and replaced by two provinces, Dalmatia and Pannonia. It is unclear when this happened, some other diplomas attest the same. This was during the reign of Nero, therefore, Šašel-Kos supports the notion that the province was dissolved during the reign of Vespasian. In 337, when Constantine the Great died, the Roman Empire was partitioned among his sons, the empire was divided into three praetorian prefectures, the Galliae, Italia, Africa et Illyricum and Oriens. The size of the provinces had been decreased and their number doubled by Diocletian, the provinces were also grouped in dioceses. Dalmatia became one of the seven provinces of the diocese of Pannonia, initially, it was under the praetorian preacture of Italy, Africa and Illyricum. Sirmium, the capital of the praetorian prefecture of Illyricum, was the birthplace of the Roman Emperor Diocletian. After he abdicated, he built Diocletians Palace in Salona, german historian Theodore Mommsen wrote that coastal Dalmatia and its islands were fully romanized and Latin-speaking by the 4th century

16.
Travunija
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Travunija or Travunia was a medieval principality that was part of Medieval Serbia, and later the Bosnian Kingdom. The principality became hereditary in a number of houses, often kin to the ruling dynasty. The region came under Ottoman rule in 1482 and its seat was in the city of Trebinje. In the 9th and 10th centuries, the Župa of Travunia was held by the Belojević noble family, after the death of Časlav, the last dynastic member, the principality disintegrated, and the provinces were annexed by the Bulgars and Byzantines. In 1034, Stefan Vojislav incited a rebellion and renounced Byzantine rule, becoming the Prince of Serbs, ruling from the seat at Duklja. Trebinje continued under the Bosnian crown in the hands of the Pavlović family, then in 1435, it part of the Duchy of Saint Sava of the Kosača family. Vladislav Hercegović was the last office holder of the region, before it was annexed in 1482 by the Ottomans, the Slavs invaded the Balkans during the reign of Justinian I, when eventually up to 100,000 Slavs raided Thessalonica. The Western Balkans was settled with Sclaveni, the east with Antes, the Sklavenoi plunder Thrace in 545, and again the next year. In 551, the Slavs crossed Niš initially headed for Thessalonica, in 577 some 100,000 Slavs poured into Thrace and Illyricum, pillaging cities and then settling down. Charlemagne, King of the Franks from 768 until his death in 814, expanded the Frankish kingdom into an empire that incorporated much of western, Dalmatia which was southeast of the Frankish empire, was in the hands of the Croats and Serbs. Radoslav of Serbia or his son was the ruler of Serbia during the uprisings of Ljudevit Posavski against the Franks, according to the Royal Frankish Annals, in 822, Ljudevit went from his seat in Sisak to the Serbs who controlled a great part of Dalmatia. In late 870s, the Theme of Dalmatia was established, with the strategos seated at Dubrovnik. These small cities in the region did not stretch into the hinterlands, Trebinje is first attested in De Administrando Imperio by Constantine VII, when describing the geography of the Serbs. Travunia was a province of the Serbian Principality under the Vlastimirović Dynasty, the first known office holder was Beloje, a count, who ruled under Prince Vlastimir. In the mid 9th century, Vlastimir marries his daughter to Krajina, the son of Beloje, the Belojević noble family is entitled the rule of Travunia, Hvalimir, and his son Čučimir continue the office under the Serbian crown. Its coastline spanned from Dubrovnik to Boka Kotorska, with the death of Časlav, Serbia disintegrated and Duklja absorbed most of Rascia along with Zahumlje and Trebinje. The Catepanate of Ras was established during the rule of John Tzimiskes, a seal of a strategos of Ras has been dated to Tzimiskes reign, making it possible for Tzimiskes predecessor Nikephoros II Phokas to have enjoyed recognition in Rascia. In the 990s, Bulgarian Tsar Samuel made client states out of most of the Balkans, including Duklja, in 998, Samuel launched a major campaign against Jovan Vladimir to prevent a Byzantine-Serbian alliance

17.
Stefan Vojislav
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Stefan Vojislav was the Serbian Prince of Duklja from 1040 to 1043. He had since 1018 been a Byzantine governor, until 1034 when he led a revolt that landed him in a prison at Constantinople. He is the founder of the Vojislavljević dynasty. Having reached its pinnacle during the reign of emperor Basil II. This was particularly evident in the Balkans, where the elimination of the perennial Bulgarian threat combined with an insensitive taxation policy helped spur liberation movements, Vojislav held the title of archon, and toparch of the Dalmatian kastra of Zeta and Ston. The affairs of the Dalmatians, Croats, Serbs and others were overseen by strategoi in Niš, Skopje, Ragusa and this shows a close relationship between native leaders and Byzantine officers in the peripheral zone of the Empire after Basils reconquest. Around 1034, the Serbs renounced Byzantine rule, Stefan Vojislav, cousin of the murdered Jovan Vladimir, organized a rebellion taking advantage of the death of the emperor Romanos III Argyros. He was defeated and imprisoned in Constantinople in 1035/1036 while his realm was put under the control of the strategos Theophilos Erotikos. By means of guerilla tactics and the effects of other uprisings, he staved off several punitive expeditions and asserted partial control over the principalities of Travunija. Vojislavs son, Radoslav, is noted as having killed a Byzantine military commander on the battlefield, Kekaumenos, a strategos sent for Vojislav, ended up imprisoned by Vojislav and taken to Ston. In 1042, the new emperor Constantine IX decided to attack Duklja with an army based in Dyrrhachium, the Byzantine army under Michaelus Anastasii was defeated and Vojislav ensured a future for Duklja without imperial authority. The battle took place on the area between Bar and Crmnica after midnight, on October 7,1042. Prior to the battle a man entered the Byzantine camp and spread information about a huge enemy army. Stefan Vojislav, along three of his sons, led the Serbs into battle. The Serbs slowly moved down the hills along with shouting and blowing horns, the Byzantines were trapped in the mountainous area, as the Serbs blocked the passage. They caught the Byzantines unprepared and managed to cause chaos among their ranks, some historical records claim that two thirds of the Byzantine army had been killed. Byzantine historian John Skylitzes claimed that 60,000 Byzantines participated in the battle, most historians agree that there were about 40,000 Byzantines. Numbers of the Serb army are unknown, but are considered to be inferior to the Byzantines

18.
Constantine Bodin
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Constantine Bodin was the ruler of Duklja, from 1081 to 1101, succeeding his father, Mihailo. He was freed in 1078, and upon the death of his father in 1081 he succeeded the throne, having renewed his acknowledgement of Byzantine overlordship, he soon sided with their enemies, the Normans, which resulted in a Byzantine invasion and his capture. Although he quickly had himself freed, his reputation and influence wane and he was pushed aside by one of his governors and nephews, Vukan in Raška, who continued the struggle against the Byzantines. Bodin was the son of Mihailo, the archon of the Serbs and his mother was the niece of Byzantine Emperor Constantine IX Monomachos. His father was more of a politician and statesman than warrior and he participated in the large revolt that broke out in Pomoravlje and Povardarje against the Byzantines in 1072–73. Mihailo was approached by Bulgarian nobles who asked him to send a son that they could crown Emperor of Bulgaria, in fall 1072, Mihailo obliged and sent Bodin with 300 troops which arrived at Prizren and met with magnates and Georgi Voiteh, a Byzantine Slavic landholder of Skopje. They proclaimed him Emperor of the Bulgarians and gave him the new name Petar and it is theorized that Bodin was the great-grandson of Samuel of Bulgaria. Bodin was thus put at the command of the Balkan Slavs against the Byzantines, the revolt, fought by the Slavic people broke out in the theme of Bulgaria. It is possible that it was aided by the Hungarians, the aid to Georgi Voiteh moved Mihailo away from the Byzantines. A Byzantine garrison was installed at Skopje, and Saronites headed for Niš, in order to prevent the retreat to Zeta being cut off, Bodin also retreated from Niš, but clashed with the Byzantines in Kosovo, where he was defeated and captured. Despite some initial success Bodin was captured at Pauni in southern Kosovo, and then sent to Constantinople, then Antioch, when unrest began in Antioch, Mihailo paid some Venetian merchants who freed Bodin and took him home. Upon his return, it seems, Bodin became a co-ruler of his father, soon after his return, the Byzantines attacked, forcing Mihailo and Bodin to temporarily acknowledge Byzantine overlordship. When, in 1081, the Normans crossed from Italy and attacked the Byzantines and besieged Dyrrhachion, Emperor Alexios I Komnenos went against them and called Bodin for aid. Bodin arrived with a Serb detachment, however, during the Battle of Dyrrhachion, he stayed aside with his army, when the Byzantines were defeated and started to flee, Bodin retreated with his army. After the death of King Mihailo, Bodin inherited the Serbian throne, by this time Bodin was a mature man with a turbulent background and great experiences, also having been a co-ruler of his father for several years. Bodins disengagement at Dyrrhachion outraged Constantinople, relations further deteriorating when Bodin began fully supporting the Normans, the Byzantines, after dealing with the Normans, attacked Bodin, defeated him and once again had him imprisoned. He quickly had himself freed, but after this his reputation began to fall, Bodin was pushed to the background, contributed by the dynastic conflicts and his struggle against the Republic of Ragusa, which brought him only little fame and success. Thus, Bodin, who had started his career with enthusiasm and energy, ended his life and reign without power

19.
Ottoman Empire
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After 1354, the Ottomans crossed into Europe, and with the conquest of the Balkans the Ottoman Beylik was transformed into a transcontinental empire. The Ottomans ended the Byzantine Empire with the 1453 conquest of Constantinople by Mehmed the Conqueror, at the beginning of the 17th century the empire contained 32 provinces and numerous vassal states. Some of these were later absorbed into the Ottoman Empire, while others were granted various types of autonomy during the course of centuries. With Constantinople as its capital and control of lands around the Mediterranean basin, while the empire was once thought to have entered a period of decline following the death of Suleiman the Magnificent, this view is no longer supported by the majority of academic historians. The empire continued to maintain a flexible and strong economy, society, however, during a long period of peace from 1740 to 1768, the Ottoman military system fell behind that of their European rivals, the Habsburg and Russian Empires. While the Empire was able to hold its own during the conflict, it was struggling with internal dissent. Starting before World War I, but growing increasingly common and violent during it, major atrocities were committed by the Ottoman government against the Armenians, Assyrians and Pontic Greeks. The word Ottoman is an anglicisation of the name of Osman I. Osmans name in turn was the Turkish form of the Arabic name ʿUthmān, in Ottoman Turkish, the empire was referred to as Devlet-i ʿAlīye-yi ʿOsmānīye, or alternatively ʿOsmānlı Devleti. In Modern Turkish, it is known as Osmanlı İmparatorluğu or Osmanlı Devleti, the Turkish word for Ottoman originally referred to the tribal followers of Osman in the fourteenth century, and subsequently came to be used to refer to the empires military-administrative elite. In contrast, the term Turk was used to refer to the Anatolian peasant and tribal population, the term Rūmī was also used to refer to Turkish-speakers by the other Muslim peoples of the empire and beyond. In Western Europe, the two names Ottoman Empire and Turkey were often used interchangeably, with Turkey being increasingly favored both in formal and informal situations and this dichotomy was officially ended in 1920–23, when the newly established Ankara-based Turkish government chose Turkey as the sole official name. Most scholarly historians avoid the terms Turkey, Turks, and Turkish when referring to the Ottomans, as the power of the Seljuk Sultanate of Rum declined in the 13th century, Anatolia was divided into a patchwork of independent Turkish principalities known as the Anatolian Beyliks. One of these beyliks, in the region of Bithynia on the frontier of the Byzantine Empire, was led by the Turkish tribal leader Osman, osmans early followers consisted both of Turkish tribal groups and Byzantine renegades, many but not all converts to Islam. Osman extended the control of his principality by conquering Byzantine towns along the Sakarya River and it is not well understood how the early Ottomans came to dominate their neighbours, due to the scarcity of the sources which survive from this period. One school of thought which was popular during the twentieth century argued that the Ottomans achieved success by rallying religious warriors to fight for them in the name of Islam, in the century after the death of Osman I, Ottoman rule began to extend over Anatolia and the Balkans. Osmans son, Orhan, captured the northwestern Anatolian city of Bursa in 1326 and this conquest meant the loss of Byzantine control over northwestern Anatolia. The important city of Thessaloniki was captured from the Venetians in 1387, the Ottoman victory at Kosovo in 1389 effectively marked the end of Serbian power in the region, paving the way for Ottoman expansion into Europe

20.
Yugoslavia
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Yugoslavia was a country in Southeast Europe during most of the 20th century. The Serbian royal House of Karađorđević became the Yugoslav royal dynasty, Yugoslavia gained international recognition on 13 July 1922 at the Conference of Ambassadors in Paris. The country was named after the South Slavic peoples and constituted their first union, following centuries in which the territories had been part of the Ottoman Empire, renamed the Kingdom of Yugoslavia on 3 October 1929, it was invaded by the Axis powers on 6 April 1941. In 1943, a Democratic Federal Yugoslavia was proclaimed by the Partisan resistance, in 1944, the king recognised it as the legitimate government, but in November 1945 the monarchy was abolished. Yugoslavia was renamed the Federal Peoples Republic of Yugoslavia in 1946 and it acquired the territories of Istria, Rijeka, and Zadar from Italy. Partisan leader Josip Broz Tito ruled the country as president until his death in 1980, in 1963, the country was renamed again as the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. The constituent six socialist republics that made up the country were the SR Bosnia and Herzegovina, SR Croatia, SR Macedonia, SR Montenegro, SR Serbia, and SR Slovenia. Serbia contained two Socialist Autonomous Provinces, Vojvodina and Kosovo, which after 1974 were largely equal to the members of the federation. After an economic and political crisis in the 1980s and the rise of nationalism, Yugoslavia broke up along its republics borders, at first into five countries, eventually, Serbia and Montenegro accepted the opinion of the Badinter Arbitration Committee about shared succession. Serbia and Montenegro themselves broke up in 2006 and became independent states, the concept of Yugoslavia, as a single state for all South Slavic peoples, emerged in the late 17th century and gained prominence through the Illyrian Movement of the 19th century. The name was created by the combination of the Slavic words jug, Yugoslavia was the result of the Corfu Declaration, as a project of the Serbian Parliament in exile and the Serbian royal Karađorđević dynasty, who became the Yugoslav royal dynasty. The country was formed in 1918 immediately after World War I as the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes by union of the State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs and it was commonly referred to at the time as the Versailles state. Later, the government renamed the country leading to the first official use of Yugoslavia in 1929, on 6 January 1929 King Alexander I suspended the constitution, banned national political parties, assumed executive power and renamed the country Yugoslavia. He hoped to curb separatist tendencies and mitigate nationalist passions and he imposed a new constitution and relinquished his dictatorship in 1931. None of these three regimes favored the policy pursued by Alexander I, Alexander attempted to create a centralised Yugoslavia. He decided to abolish Yugoslavias historic regions, and new internal boundaries were drawn for provinces or banovinas, the banovinas were named after rivers. Many politicians were jailed or kept under police surveillance, the effect of Alexanders dictatorship was to further alienate the non-Serbs from the idea of unity. During his reign the flags of Yugoslav nations were banned, Alexander was succeeded by his eleven-year-old son Peter II and a regency council headed by his cousin, Prince Paul

21.
Montenegrin independence referendum, 2006
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An independence referendum was held in Montenegro on 21 May 2006. It was approved by 55. 5% of voters, narrowly passing the 55% threshold, on 31 May the referendum commission officially confirmed the results of the referendum, verifying that 55. 5% of the population of Montenegrin voters had voted in favor of independence. The Assembly of the Republic of Montenegro made a formal Declaration of Independence on Saturday 3 June, the European Union, the United States, the Peoples Republic of China, and the Russian Federation all expressed their intentions to respect the referendum results. Article 60 of the constitution required that a minimum of three years pass after its ratification before one of the states could declare independence. The same article specified the referendum as necessary for this move, however, this constitution allowed member states to define their own referendum laws. It is also specified that the state which secedes forfeits any rights to political and legal continuity of the federation. No state objected to recognizing a newly formed state prior to the referendum, if Serbia had declared independence instead of Montenegro, Montenegro would have been the legal successor state. According to the Montenegrin Constitution, state status could not be changed without a referendum proposed by the President to the Parliament, President Filip Vujanović accordingly submitted such a bill, and it was unanimously passed by the Montenegrin Parliament on 2 March 2006. The Referendum Bill obliged the Parliament, which introduced the referendum and it had to declare the official results within 15 days following the voting day, and act upon them within 60 days. The dissolution of Parliament was required upon the passage of any bill proposing constitutional changes to the status of the state, for such changes to be enacted, the new Parliament was required to support the bill with a two-thirds majority. There has been controversy over suffrage and needed result threshold for independence. The Council of the European Union unanimously agreed to Lajčáks proposal, Milo Đukanović, Prime Minister of Montenegro, however, promised that he would declare independence if the votes passed 50%, regardless of whether the census was passed or not. On the other hand, he announced that if less than 50% voted for the independence option. Do you want the Republic of Montenegro to be an independent state with an international and legal personality. In the video clip they are seen and heard persuading Bušković to vote for the independence, when the video became public, two DPS activists claimed they were victims of manipulation and that Vasilije Mijović talked them into doing so. Mijović denied those claims saying the video had been authentic, DPS spokesperson Predrag Sekulić claimed the video was a montage and a cheap political setup. Mašan Bušković, the target of the attempted bribe, on the other hand said the video is authentic. Polling throughout the campaign was sporadic, with most polls showing pro-independence forces leading, only in the later weeks did polls begin to indicate the threshold would be passed, albeit barely

22.
Prehistory of Southeastern Europe
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For the history of Earth before the occupation by the genus homo, including the period of early hominins, see Geology of Europe and Human evolution. The changes between these are gradual, for example, depending on interpretation, protohistory might or might not include Bronze Age Greece, Minoan, Mycenaean, Thracian and Venetic cultures. By one interpretation of the criterion, Southeastern Europe enters protohistory only with Homer. At any rate, the period ends before Herodotus in the 5th century BC, the earliest evidence of human occupation discovered in the Balkans, in Kozarnika Bulgaria, date from at least 1.4 million years ago. There is evidence of presence in the Balkans from the Lower Paleolithic onwards. According to Douglass W. Bailey, The Palaeolithic period, literally the “Old Stone Age”, is an ancient cultural level of development characterized by the use of unpolished chipped stone tools. The transition from Middle to Upper Palaeolithic is directly related to the development of modernity by hominids around 40,000 years BP. To denote the significance and degree of change, this dramatic shift from Middle to Upper Palaeolithic is sometimes called the Upper Palaeolithic Revolution. In the late Pleistocene, various components of the culture and environmental features indicate continual change. The aforementioned aspects leave some doubt that the term Upper Palaeolithic Revolution is appropriate to the Balkans, in general, continual evolutionary changes are the first crucial characteristic of the transition to the Upper Palaeolithic in the Balkans. The notion of the Upper Palaeolithic Revolution that has developed for core European regions is not applicable to the Balkans. This particularly significant moment and its origins are defined and enlightened by other characteristics of the transition to upper Old Stone Age, the environment, climate, flora and fauna corroborate the implications. During the last interglacial period and the most recent glaciation of the Pleistocene, the glaciations did not affect southeastern Europe to the extent that they did in the northern and central regions. The evidence of forest and steppe indicate the influence was not so drastic, some species of flora, the Balkans today still abound in species endemic only to this part of Europe. The notion of gradual transition best defines Balkan Europe from about 50,000 BP, in this sense, the material culture and natural environment of the Balkans of the late Pleistocene and the early Holocene were distinct from other parts of Europe. Douglass W. ” Thus, in speaking about southeastern Europe, in this regard, the absence of Upper Palaeolithic cave art in the Balkans does not seem to be surprising. Civilisations develop new and distinctive characteristics as they respond to new challenges in their environment, in 2002, some of the oldest modern human remains in Europe were discovered in the Cave With Bones, near Anina, Romania. Nicknamed John of Anina, the remains are approximately 37,800 years old and these are some of Europe’s oldest remains of Homo sapiens, so they are likely to represent the first such people to have entered the continent

23.
Illyria
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In classical antiquity, Illyria was a region in the western part of the Balkan Peninsula inhabited by the Illyrians. The prehistory of Illyria and the Illyrians is known from archaeological evidence, the Romans conquered the region in 168 BC in the aftermath of the Illyrian Wars. The Roman term Illyris was sometimes used to define an area north of the Aous valley, in Greek mythology, the name of Illyria is aetiologically traced to Illyrius, the son of Cadmus and Harmonia, who eventually ruled Illyria and became the eponymous ancestor of the Illyrians. A later version of the myth identifies Polyphemus and Galatea as parents of Celtus, Galas, ancient Greek writers used the name Illyrian to describe peoples between the Liburnians and Epirus. In the Roman period, Illyricum was used for the area between the Adriatic and Danube, the term was in a way of pars pro toto. The earliest recorded Illyrian kingdom was that of the Enchele in the 8th century BC, the era in which we observe other Illyrian kingdoms begins approximately at 400 BC and ends at 167 BC. The Autariatae under Pleurias were considered to have been a kingdom, the Kingdom of the Ardiaei began at 230 BC and ended at 167 BC. The most notable Illyrian kingdoms and dynasties were those of Bardyllis of the Dardani and of Agron of the Ardiaei who created the last, Agron ruled over the Ardiaei and had extended his rule to other tribes as well. As for the Dardanians, they always had separate domains from the rest of the Illyrians, the Illyrian kingdoms were composed of small areas within the region of Illyria. Only the Romans ruled the entire region, polybius gives as an image of society within an Illyrian kingdom as peasant infantry fought under aristocrats which he calls in Greek Polydynastae where each one controlled a town within the kingdom. The monarchy was established on hereditary lines and Illyrian rulers used marriages as a means of alliance with other powers, pliny writes that the people that formed the nucleus of the Illyrian kingdom were Illyrians proper or Illyrii Proprie Dicti. They were the Taulantii, the Pleraei, the Endirudini, Sasaei, Grabaei and these later joined to form the Docleatae. The Romans defeated Gentius, the last king of Illyria, at Scodra in 168 BC and captured him, four client-republics were set up, which were in fact ruled by Rome. Later, the region was governed by Rome and organized as a province. The Roman province of Illyricum replaced the independent kingdom of Illyria. It stretched from the Drilon river in modern Albania to Istria in the west, although this division occurred in 10 AD, the term Illyria remained in use in Late Latin and throughout the medieval period. After the division of the Roman Empire, the bishops of Thessalonica appointed papal vicars for Illyricum, the first of these vicars is said to have been Bishop Acholius or Ascholius, the friend of St. Basil. The patriarchs of Constantinople succeeded in bringing Illyria under their jurisdiction in the 8th century, several armorials of the Early modern period, popularly called the Illyrian Armorials, depicted fictional coats of arms of Illyria

24.
Illyrian Wars
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The Illyrian Wars were a set of wars fought in the period 229–168 BC between the Roman Republic and the Ardiaei kingdom. Rome expelled Illyrian garrisons from a number of Greek cities including Epidamnus, Apollonia, Corcyra, Pharos, the Romans also set up Demetrius of Pharos as a power in Illyria to counterbalance the power of Teuta. The Second Illyrian War lasted from 220 BC to 219 BC, in 219 BC, the Roman Republic was at war with the Celts of Cisalpine Gaul, and the Second Punic War with Carthage was beginning. These distractions gave Demetrius the time he needed to build a new Illyrian war fleet, leading this fleet of 90 ships, Demetrius sailed south of Lissus, violating his earlier treaty and starting the war. Demetrius fleet first attacked Pylos, where he captured 50 ships after several attempts, from Pylos, the fleet sailed to the Cyclades, quelling any resistance that they found on the way. Demetrius foolishly sent a fleet across the Adriatic, and, with the Illyrian forces divided, from Dimale the navy went towards Pharos. In 171 BC, the Illyrian king Gentius was allied with the Romans against the Macedonians, but in 169 BC he changed sides and allied himself with Perseus of Macedon. During the Third Illyrian War, in 168 BC, he arrested two Roman legati and destroyed the cities of Apollonia and Dyrrhachium, which were allied to Rome. He was defeated at Scodra by a Roman force under L. Anicius Gallus, in the second half of the third century BC, the Ardiaei kingdom was transformed into a formidable power under the leadership of Agron. During this time, Agron invaded part of Epirus, Corcyra, Epidamnos and Pharos in succession, the Illyrians used the lembus, a small and fast warship with a single bank of oars. Raids by sea from the Adriatic and Ionian were probably a familiar threat to the north-western Greeks, what was new was the use of a land army to follow up and profit from the victories gained by the navy. The Greek cities on the coast of Illyria were systematically attacked, Rome answered an appeal from the island of Issa, threatened by Agron, by sending envoys. They were attacked en route by Illyrian vessels, and one of them was killed and that time a number of political events marked the adjacent Greek states. In 234 BC, the succession in Epirus came to an end. In the south, the part of Acarnania seceded from this arrangement. Besieged at Medion, the Acarnanians sought assistance from Demetrius II of Macedonia, in response, the king requested assistance from Agron to relieve the siege. The Illyrian attack under Agron was mounted in either 232 or 231 BC, one hundred lembi, with 5000 men on board, sailed up to land at Medion. They then formed up in the order that was usual in their own country and this defeat of the Aetolians, who were famed for their victory over the invading Gauls a generation before, caused a sensation in Greece

25.
Slavs
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Slavs are the largest Indo-European ethno-linguistic group in Europe. They are native to Central Europe, Eastern Europe, Southeastern Europe, Northeastern Europe, North Asia, Slavs speak Slavic languages of the Balto-Slavic language group. From the early 6th century they spread to inhabit most of Central, states with Slavic languages comprise over 50% of the territory of Europe, therefore it is the largest ethno-linguistic group in Europe by land area. Present-day Slavic people are classified into West Slavs, East Slavs, there are an estimated 360 million Slavs worldwide. The Slavic autonym is reconstructed in Proto-Slavic as *Slověninъ, plural *Slověne, the oldest documents written in Old Church Slavonic and dating from the 9th century attest the autonym as Slověne. The word slovo and the related slava and slukh originate from the Proto-Indo-European root *ḱlew-, cognate with Ancient Greek κλῆς, whence comes the name Pericles, Latin clueo, some other theories have limited support. The English term slave eventually derives from the ethnonym Slav, Slavs were captured and enslaved by the Muslims of Spain during the ninth century AD. The Slavs under name of the Antes and the Sclaveni make their first appearance in Byzantine records in the early 6th century. Procopius wrote in 545 that the Sclaveni and the Antae actually had a name in the remote past. He described them as barbarians, who lived under democracy, and that believe in one god. They lived in scattered housing, and constantly changed settlement, regarding warfare, they were mainly foot soldiers with small shields and battleaxes, lightly clothed, some entering battle naked with only their genitals covered. And they live a life, giving no heed to bodily comforts. Jordanes described the Sclaveni having swamps and forests for their cities, another 6th-century source refers to them living among nearly impenetrable forests, rivers, lakes, and marshes. Menander Protector mentions a Daurentius that slew an Avar envoy of Khagan Bayan I. The Avars asked the Slavs to accept the suzerainty of the Avars, he declined and is reported as saying, Others do not conquer our land. The relationship between the Slavs and a called the Veneti east of the River Vistula in the Roman period is uncertain. The name may refer both to Balts and Slavs, perhaps some Slavs migrated with the movement of the Vandals to Iberia and north Africa. Around the 6th century, Slavs appeared on Byzantine borders in great numbers, the Byzantine records note that grass would not regrow in places where the Slavs had marched through, so great were their numbers

26.
Balkans
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The Balkan Peninsula, or the Balkans, is a peninsula and a cultural area in Eastern and Southeastern Europe with various and disputed borders. The region takes its name from the Balkan Mountains that stretch from the Serbia-Bulgaria border to the Black Sea, the highest point of the Balkans is Mount Musala 2,925 metres in the Rila mountain range. In Turkish, Balkan means a chain of wooded mountains, the name is still preserved in Central Asia with the Balkan Daglary and the Balkan Province of Turkmenistan. A less popular hypothesis regarding its etymology is that it derived from the Persian Balā-Khāna, from Antiquity through the Middle Ages, the Balkan Mountains had been called by the local Thracian name Haemus. According to Greek mythology, the Thracian king Haemus was turned into a mountain by Zeus as a punishment, a reverse name scheme has also been suggested. D. Dechev considers that Haemus is derived from a Thracian word *saimon, a third possibility is that Haemus derives from the Greek word haema meaning blood. The myth relates to a fight between Zeus and the monster/titan Typhon, Zeus injured Typhon with a thunder bolt and Typhons blood fell on the mountains, from which they got their name. The earliest mention of the name appears in an early 14th-century Arab map, the Ottomans first mention it in a document dated from 1565. There has been no other documented usage of the word to refer to the region before that, there is also a claim about an earlier Bulgar Turkic origin of the word popular in Bulgaria, however it is only an unscholarly assertion. The word was used by the Ottomans in Rumelia in its meaning of mountain, as in Kod̲j̲a-Balkan, Čatal-Balkan, and Ungurus-Balkani̊. The concept of the Balkans was created by the German geographer August Zeune in 1808, during the 1820s, Balkan became the preferred although not yet exclusive term alongside Haemus among British travelers. Among Russian travelers not so burdened by classical toponymy, Balkan was the preferred term, zeunes goal was to have a geographical parallel term to the Italic and Iberian Peninsula, and seemingly nothing more. The gradually acquired political connotations are newer and, to a large extent, after the dissolution of Yugoslavia beginning in June 1991, the term Balkans again received a negative meaning, especially in Croatia and Slovenia, even in casual usage. A European Union initiative of 1999 is called the Stability Pact for South Eastern Europe, and its northern boundary is often given as the Danube, Sava and Kupa Rivers. The Balkan Peninsula has an area of about 470,000 km2. It is more or less identical to the known as Southeastern Europe. As of 1920 until World War II, Italy included Istria, the current territory of Italy includes only the small area around Trieste inside the Balkan Peninsula. However, the regions of Trieste and Istria are not usually considered part of the Balkans by Italian geographers, the Western Balkans is a neologism coined to describe the countries of ex-Yugoslavia and Albania

27.
Illyrians
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The Illyrians were a group of Indo-European tribes in antiquity, who inhabited part of the western Balkans and the south-eastern coasts of the Italian peninsula. The first account of Illyrian peoples comes from the Periplus of Pseudo-Scylax, the Illyrian tribes never collectively regarded themselves as Illyrians, and it is unlikely that they used any collective nomenclature for themselves. The term Illyrians last appears in the record in the 7th century. In later Greek mythology, Illyrius was the son of Cadmus and Harmonia who eventually ruled Illyria, Illyrius had multiple sons and daughters. From these, sprang the Taulantii, Parthini, Dardani, Encheleae, Autariates, Dassaretae, autareius had a son Pannonius or Paeon and these had sons Scordiscus and Triballus. Even before the advent of post-modernism, scholars recognized a difficulty in producing a single theory on the ethnogenesis of the Illyrians given their heterogeneous nature, nevertheless, scholars traditionally looked for the origins of the Illyrian peoples centuries, even millennia, before their first historical attestation. Following the theories of Gustaf Kossinna, scholars sought to equate tribes mentioned by later Greco-Roman historians with preceding Bronze, in particular, scholars such as Julian Pokorny and Richard Pittioni placed the Illyrian homeland within the Luzatian culture, itself an offshoot of the trans-Central European Urnfield culture. From c.1200 BC, the bearers of the Lausitz culture are said to have engaged in widespread migrations throughout Europe. With regard to the Balkans, their movement south in turn initiated the Dorian migrations into southern Greece and these Pan-Illyrian theories have since been dismissed by scholars, based as they were on racialistic notions of Nordicism and Aryanism. The above theories have found little archaeological corroboration, as no convincing evidence for significant migratory movements from the Luzatian culture into the west Balkans have ever been found. Rather, archaeologists from the former Yugoslavia highlighted the continuity between the Bronze and succeeding Iron Age, ultimately developing the so-called autochthonous theory of Illyrian genesis, the autochthonous model was most elaborated upon by Alojz Benac and B. They argued that the proto-Illyrians had arrived earlier, during the Bronze Age as nomadic Indo-Europeans from the steppe. From that point, there was a gradual Illyrianization of the western Balkans leading to historic Illyrians and he did not deny a minor cultural impact from the northern Urnfield cultures, however these movements had neither a profound influence on the stability. Of the Balkans, nor did they affect the ethnogenesis of the Illyrian ethnos, aleksandar Stipčević raised concerns regarding Benacs all-encompassing scenario of autochthonous ethnogenesis. They rather see the emergence of historic Illyrians tribes as a recent phenomenon - just prior to their first attestation. The exception to this are the communities in Glasinac and Mati, the impetus behind the emergence of larger regional groups, such as Iapodes, Liburnians, Pannonians etc. is traced to increased contacts with the Mediterranean and La Tène global worlds. This catalyzed the development of complex political institutions and the increase in differences between individual communities. Emerging local elites selectively adopted either La Tène or Hellenistic and, later, Roman cultural templates in order to legitimise and they were competing fiercely through either alliance or conflict and resistance to Roman expansion

28.
Lake Skadar
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Lake Skadar — also called Lake Scutari, Lake Shkodër and Lake Shkodra — lies on the border of Albania and Montenegro, the largest lake in the Southern Europe. It is named after the city of Shkodër in northern Albania, Lake Skadar is the largest lake in the Balkan Peninsula with a surface area that seasonally fluctuates between 370 km2 to 530 km2. Lake Skadar itself is located on the western Balkan with approximately two-third of its belonging to Montenegro. The lake’s water level also varies seasonally from 4.7 to 9.8 m above sea level, the lake extends in the NW-SE direction, and it is approximately 44 km long. The Bojana River connects the lake with the Adriatic Sea, the lake is a cryptodepression, filled by the river Morača and drained into the Adriatic by the 41 km long Bojana, which forms the international border on the lower half of its length. The largest inflow is from the Morača, which provides about 62% of the lake’s water, total drainage area is 5490 km2. There are additionally some fresh water sources at the lake bottom, a characteristic feature of Lake Skadar’s water balance is the high inflow from a number of temporary and permanent karstic springs, some of which are sublacustrine in cryptodepressians. The Southern and southwestern sides of the lake are rocky, barren and steep, on the northern side there is an enormous inundated area, the boundaries of which change as water levels fluctuate. Some small islands like Beška, with two churches on it and Grmožur, a fortress and prison can be found on the southwest side of the lake. The climate type is hot-summer Mediterranean climate with dry summers, under Köppen climate classification, the Montenegrin part of the lake and its surrounding area were declared a national park in 1983. The Albanian part has been designated as a Managed Nature Reserve, in 1996, by Ramsar Convention on Wetlands, it was included in the Ramsar list of wetlands of international importance. Near the mouth of Rijeka Crnojevića,11 m below the surface of the water there is a well preserved wreck of the steamboat Skanderbeg sank by Partisans in 1942, Lake Skadar is presumably an ancient lake, although it is a relatively young ancient lake. Most authors agree that the Lake Skadar basin is of tectonic origin which had formed due to the complex folding and faulting within north eastern wing of Old Montenegro anticlynorium. These movements took place during the Cenozoic period, the Lake basin has been formed as the result of sinking of blocks in the Neogene period or even in Paleogene. Radoman pointed out that sea must have destroyed all the populations on this plane. The connection of Lake Skadar with the sea was interrupted during the younger Pliocene, the question of the origin of its water is of particular interest for biologists as these waters may have provided its first species and been the basis for its present high degree of endemism. The Lake Skadar system is a hotspot of freshwater biodiversity. Lake Skadar is one of the largest bird reserves in Europe, having 270 bird species, among which are some of the last pelicans in Europe, the lake also contains habitats of seagulls and herons

29.
Ancient Greece
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Ancient Greece was a civilization belonging to a period of Greek history from the Greek Dark Ages of the 12th-9th centuries BC to the end of antiquity. Immediately following this period was the beginning of the Early Middle Ages and this was followed by the period of Classical Greece, an era that began with the Greco-Persian Wars, lasting from the 5th to 4th centuries BC. Due to the conquests by Alexander the Great of Macedonia, Hellenistic civilization flourished from Central Asia to the end of the Mediterranean Sea. Classical Greek culture, especially philosophy, had a influence on ancient Rome. For this reason Classical Greece is generally considered to be the culture which provided the foundation of modern Western culture and is considered the cradle of Western civilization. Classical Antiquity in the Mediterranean region is considered to have begun in the 8th century BC. Classical Antiquity in Greece is preceded by the Greek Dark Ages and this period is succeeded, around the 8th century BC, by the Orientalizing Period during which a strong influence of Syro-Hittite, Jewish, Assyrian, Phoenician and Egyptian cultures becomes apparent. The end of the Dark Ages is also dated to 776 BC. The Archaic period gives way to the Classical period around 500 BC, Ancient Periods Astronomical year numbering Dates are approximate, consult particular article for details The history of Greece during Classical Antiquity may be subdivided into five major periods. The earliest of these is the Archaic period, in which artists made larger free-standing sculptures in stiff, the Archaic period is often taken to end with the overthrow of the last tyrant of Athens and the start of Athenian Democracy in 508 BC. It was followed by the Classical period, characterized by a style which was considered by observers to be exemplary, i. e. classical, as shown in the Parthenon. This period saw the Greco-Persian Wars and the Rise of Macedon, following the Classical period was the Hellenistic period, during which Greek culture and power expanded into the Near and Middle East. This period begins with the death of Alexander and ends with the Roman conquest, Herodotus is widely known as the father of history, his Histories are eponymous of the entire field. Herodotus was succeeded by authors such as Thucydides, Xenophon, Demosthenes, Plato, most of these authors were either Athenian or pro-Athenian, which is why far more is known about the history and politics of Athens than those of many other cities. Their scope is limited by a focus on political, military and diplomatic history, ignoring economic. In the 8th century BC, Greece began to emerge from the Dark Ages which followed the fall of the Mycenaean civilization, literacy had been lost and Mycenaean script forgotten, but the Greeks adopted the Phoenician alphabet, modifying it to create the Greek alphabet. The Lelantine War is the earliest documented war of the ancient Greek period and it was fought between the important poleis of Chalcis and Eretria over the fertile Lelantine plain of Euboea. Both cities seem to have suffered a decline as result of the long war, a mercantile class arose in the first half of the 7th century BC, shown by the introduction of coinage in about 680 BC

30.
Adriatic Sea
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The Adriatic Sea /ˌeɪdriˈætᵻk/ is a body of water separating the Italian Peninsula from the Balkan peninsula and the Apennine Mountains from the Dinaric Alps and adjacent ranges. The Adriatic is the northernmost arm of the Mediterranean Sea, extending from the Strait of Otranto to the northwest, the countries with coasts on the Adriatic are Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Greece, Italy, Montenegro and Slovenia. The Adriatic contains over 1,300 islands, mostly located along its eastern, Croatian and it is divided into three basins, the northern being the shallowest and the southern being the deepest, with a maximum depth of 1,233 metres. The Otranto Sill, a ridge, is located at the border between the Adriatic and Ionian Seas. The prevailing currents flow counterclockwise from the Strait of Otranto, along the eastern coast, tidal movements in the Adriatic are slight, although larger amplitudes are known to occur occasionally. The Adriatics salinity is lower than the Mediterraneans because the Adriatic collects a third of the water flowing into the Mediterranean. The surface water temperatures range from 30 °C in summer to 12 °C in winter. The Adriatic Sea sits on the Apulian or Adriatic Microplate, which separated from the African Plate in the Mesozoic era, the plates movement contributed to the formation of the surrounding mountain chains and Apennine tectonic uplift after its collision with the Eurasian plate. In the Late Oligocene, the Apennine Peninsula first formed, separating the Adriatic Basin from the rest of the Mediterranean, all types of sediment are found in the Adriatic, with the bulk of the material transported by the Po and other rivers on the western coast. The western coast is alluvial or terraced, while the eastern coast is indented with pronounced karstification. There are dozens of protected areas in the Adriatic, designed to protect the seas karst habitats. The sea is abundant in flora and fauna—more than 7,000 species are identified as native to the Adriatic, many of them endemic, rare and threatened ones. The Adriatics shores are populated by more than 3.5 million people, the earliest settlements on the Adriatic shores were Etruscan, Illyrian, and Greek. By the 2nd century BC, the shores were under Romes control, following Italian unification, the Kingdom of Italy started an eastward expansion that lasted until the 20th century. Following World War I and the collapse of Austria-Hungary and the Ottoman Empire, the former disintegrated during the 1990s, resulting in four new states on the Adriatic coast. Italy and Albania agreed on their maritime boundary in 1992, Fisheries and tourism are significant sources of income all along the Adriatic coast. Adriatic Croatias tourism industry has grown faster economically than the rest of the Adriatic Basins, maritime transport is also a significant branch of the areas economy—there are 19 seaports in the Adriatic that each handle more than a million tonnes of cargo per year. The largest Adriatic seaport by annual cargo turnover is the Port of Trieste, in the southeast, the Adriatic Sea connects to the Ionian Sea at the 72-kilometre wide Strait of Otranto

31.
Mediterranean Sea
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The sea is sometimes considered a part of the Atlantic Ocean, although it is usually identified as a separate body of water. The name Mediterranean is derived from the Latin mediterraneus, meaning inland or in the middle of land and it covers an approximate area of 2.5 million km2, but its connection to the Atlantic is only 14 km wide. The Strait of Gibraltar is a strait that connects the Atlantic Ocean to the Mediterranean Sea and separates Gibraltar. In oceanography, it is called the Eurafrican Mediterranean Sea or the European Mediterranean Sea to distinguish it from mediterranean seas elsewhere. The Mediterranean Sea has a depth of 1,500 m. The sea is bordered on the north by Europe, the east by Asia and it is located between latitudes 30° and 46° N and longitudes 6° W and 36° E. Its west-east length, from the Strait of Gibraltar to the Gulf of Iskenderun, the seas average north-south length, from Croatia’s southern shore to Libya, is approximately 800 km. The Mediterranean Sea, including the Sea of Marmara, has an area of approximately 2,510,000 square km. The sea was an important route for merchants and travelers of ancient times that allowed for trade, the history of the Mediterranean region is crucial to understanding the origins and development of many modern societies. In addition, the Gaza Strip and the British Overseas Territories of Gibraltar and Akrotiri, the term Mediterranean derives from the Latin word mediterraneus, meaning amid the earth or between land, as it is between the continents of Africa, Asia and Europe. The Ancient Greek name Mesogeios, is similarly from μέσο, between + γη, land, earth) and it can be compared with the Ancient Greek name Mesopotamia, meaning between rivers. The Mediterranean Sea has historically had several names, for example, the Carthaginians called it the Syrian Sea and latter Romans commonly called it Mare Nostrum, and occasionally Mare Internum. Another name was the Sea of the Philistines, from the people inhabiting a large portion of its shores near the Israelites, the sea is also called the Great Sea in the General Prologue by Geoffrey Chaucer. In Ottoman Turkish, it has also been called Bahr-i Sefid, in Modern Hebrew, it has been called HaYam HaTikhon, the Middle Sea, reflecting the Seas name in ancient Greek, Latin, and modern languages in both Europe and the Middle East. Similarly, in Modern Arabic, it is known as al-Baḥr al-Mutawassiṭ, in Turkish, it is known as Akdeniz, the White Sea since among Turks the white colour represents the west. Several ancient civilisations were located around the Mediterranean shores, and were influenced by their proximity to the sea. It provided routes for trade, colonisation, and war, as well as food for numerous communities throughout the ages, due to the shared climate, geology, and access to the sea, cultures centered on the Mediterranean tended to have some extent of intertwined culture and history. Two of the most notable Mediterranean civilisations in classical antiquity were the Greek city states, later, when Augustus founded the Roman Empire, the Romans referred to the Mediterranean as Mare Nostrum

32.
Colonies in antiquity
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Colonies in antiquity were city-states founded from a mother-city, not from a territory-at-large. Bonds between a colony and its metropolis remained often close, and took specific forms, however, unlike in the period of European colonialism during the early and late modern era, ancient colonies were usually sovereign and self-governing from their inception. An Egyptian colony that was stationed in southern Canaan dates to slightly before the First Dynasty, narmer had Egyptian pottery produced in Canaan and exported back to Egypt, from regions such as Arad, En Besor, Rafiah, and Tel ʿErani. Shipbuilding was known to the ancient Egyptians as early as 3000 BC, the Archaeological Institute of America reports that the earliest dated ship—75 feet long, dating to 3000 BC – may have possibly belonged to Pharaoh Aha. Egypt at its height controlled Crete across the Mediterranean Sea, the Phoenicians were the major trading power in the Mediterranean in the early part of the first millennium BC. They had trading contacts in Egypt and Greece, and established colonies as far west as modern Spain, from Gadir the Phoenicians controlled access to the Atlantic Ocean and the trade routes to Britain. The most famous and successful of Phoenician colonies was founded by settlers from Tyre in 814–813 BC and called Kart-Hadasht (Qart-ḥadašt, the Carthaginians later founded their own colony in the southeast of Spain, Carthago Nova, which was eventually conquered by their enemy, Rome. But in most cases the motivation was to establish and facilitate relations of trade with foreign countries, colonies were established in Ionia and Thrace as early as the 8th century BC. There were two types of colony, one known as an ἀποικία - apoikia and the other as an ἐμπορίov - emporion. The first type of colony was a city-state on its own, through this Greek expansion the use of coins flourished throughout the Mediterranean Basin. The Greeks also colonised modern-day Crimea on the Black Sea, among the settlements they established there was the city of Chersonesos, at the site of modern-day Sevastopol. Another area with significant Greek colonies was the coast of ancient Illyria on the Adriatic Sea, the extensive Greek colonization is remarked upon by Cicero when noting that It were as though a Greek fringe has been woven about the shores of the barbarians. Several formulae were generally adhered to on the solemn and sacred occasions when a new colony set forth, if a Greek city was sending out a colony, an oracle, especially one such as the Oracle of Delphi, was almost invariably consulted beforehand. A person of distinction was selected to guide the emigrants and make the necessary arrangements and it was usual to honor these founders of colonies, after their death, as heroes. Some of the fire was taken from the public hearth in the Prytaneum. After the conquests of the Macedonian Kingdom and Alexander the Great, the relation between colony and mother-city, known literally as the metropolis, was viewed as one of mutual affection. Any differences that arose were resolved by peaceful means whenever possible and it is worth noting that the Peloponnesian War was in part a result of a dispute between Corinth and her colony of Corcyra. The charter of foundation contained general provisions for the arrangement of the affairs of the colony, the constitution of the mother-city was usually adopted by the colony, but the new city remained politically independent

33.
Celts
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The history of pre-Celtic Europe remains very uncertain. According to one theory, the root of the Celtic languages, the Proto-Celtic language, arose in the Late Bronze Age Urnfield culture of Central Europe. Thus this area is called the Celtic homeland. The earliest undisputed examples of a Celtic language are the Lepontic inscriptions beginning in the 6th century BC. Continental Celtic languages are attested almost exclusively through inscriptions and place-names, Insular Celtic languages are attested beginning around the 4th century in Ogham inscriptions, although it was clearly being spoken much earlier. Celtic literary tradition begins with Old Irish texts around the 8th century, coherent texts of Early Irish literature, such as the Táin Bó Cúailnge, survive in 12th century recensions. Between the 5th and 8th centuries, the Celtic-speaking communities in these Atlantic regions emerged as a cohesive cultural entity. They had a linguistic, religious and artistic heritage that distinguished them from the culture of the surrounding polities. By the 6th century, however, the Continental Celtic languages were no longer in wide use, Insular Celtic culture diversified into that of the Gaels and the Celtic Britons of the medieval and modern periods. A modern Celtic identity was constructed as part of the Romanticist Celtic Revival in Great Britain, Ireland, today, Irish, Scottish Gaelic, Welsh, and Breton are still spoken in parts of their historical territories, and Cornish and Manx are undergoing a revival. The first recorded use of the name of Celts – as Κελτοί – to refer to a group was by Hecataeus of Miletus, the Greek geographer, in 517 BC. In the fifth century BC Herodotus referred to Keltoi living around the head of the Danube, the etymology of the term Keltoi is unclear. Possible roots include Indo-European *kʲel ‘to hide’, IE *kʲel ‘to heat’ or *kel ‘to impel’, several authors have supposed it to be Celtic in origin, while others view it as a name coined by Greeks. Linguist Patrizia De Bernardo Stempel falls in the group. Yet he reports Celtic peoples in Iberia, and also uses the ethnic names Celtiberi and Celtici for peoples there, as distinct from Lusitani, pliny the Elder cited the use of Celtici in Lusitania as a tribal surname, which epigraphic findings have confirmed. Latin Gallus might stem from a Celtic ethnic or tribal name originally and its root may be the Proto-Celtic *galno, meaning “power, strength”, hence Old Irish gal “boldness, ferocity” and Welsh gallu “to be able, power”. The tribal names of Gallaeci and the Greek Γαλάται most probably have the same origin, the suffix -atai might be an Ancient Greek inflection. Proto-Germanic *walha is derived ultimately from the name of the Volcae and this means that English Gaul, despite its superficial similarity, is not actually derived from Latin Gallia, though it does refer to the same ancient region

34.
Ancient Rome
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In its many centuries of existence, the Roman state evolved from a monarchy to a classical republic and then to an increasingly autocratic empire. Through conquest and assimilation, it came to dominate the Mediterranean region and then Western Europe, Asia Minor, North Africa and it is often grouped into classical antiquity together with ancient Greece, and their similar cultures and societies are known as the Greco-Roman world. Ancient Roman civilisation has contributed to modern government, law, politics, engineering, art, literature, architecture, technology, warfare, religion, language and society. Rome professionalised and expanded its military and created a system of government called res publica, the inspiration for modern republics such as the United States and France. By the end of the Republic, Rome had conquered the lands around the Mediterranean and beyond, its domain extended from the Atlantic to Arabia, the Roman Empire emerged with the end of the Republic and the dictatorship of Augustus Caesar. 721 years of Roman-Persian Wars started in 92 BC with their first war against Parthia and it would become the longest conflict in human history, and have major lasting effects and consequences for both empires. Under Trajan, the Empire reached its territorial peak, Republican mores and traditions started to decline during the imperial period, with civil wars becoming a prelude common to the rise of a new emperor. Splinter states, such as the Palmyrene Empire, would divide the Empire during the crisis of the 3rd century. Plagued by internal instability and attacked by various migrating peoples, the part of the empire broke up into independent kingdoms in the 5th century. This splintering is a landmark historians use to divide the ancient period of history from the pre-medieval Dark Ages of Europe. King Numitor was deposed from his throne by his brother, Amulius, while Numitors daughter, Rhea Silvia, because Rhea Silvia was raped and impregnated by Mars, the Roman god of war, the twins were considered half-divine. The new king, Amulius, feared Romulus and Remus would take back the throne, a she-wolf saved and raised them, and when they were old enough, they returned the throne of Alba Longa to Numitor. Romulus became the source of the citys name, in order to attract people to the city, Rome became a sanctuary for the indigent, exiled, and unwanted. This caused a problem for Rome, which had a large workforce but was bereft of women, Romulus traveled to the neighboring towns and tribes and attempted to secure marriage rights, but as Rome was so full of undesirables they all refused. Legend says that the Latins invited the Sabines to a festival and stole their unmarried maidens, leading to the integration of the Latins, after a long time in rough seas, they landed at the banks of the Tiber River. Not long after they landed, the men wanted to take to the sea again, one woman, named Roma, suggested that the women burn the ships out at sea to prevent them from leaving. At first, the men were angry with Roma, but they realized that they were in the ideal place to settle. They named the settlement after the woman who torched their ships, the Roman poet Virgil recounted this legend in his classical epic poem the Aeneid

35.
Illyricum (Roman province)
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Illyricum /ɪˈlɪrᵻkəm/ was a Roman province that existed from 27 BC to sometime during the reign of Vespasian. The province comprised Illyria/Dalmatia and Pannonia, Illyria included the area along the east coast of the Adriatic Sea and its inland mountains. With the creation of this province it came to be called Dalmatia, Illyria/Dalmatia stretched from the River Drin to Istria and the River Sava in the north. The area roughly corresponded to modern northern Albania, Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Pannonia was the plain which lie to its north, from the mountains of Illyria/Dalmatia to the westward bend of the River Danube. It was in the modern Vojvodina, northern Croatia and western Hungary, as the province developed Salona became as its capital. Illyricum derived its name from Illyria and these in turn are Latin names derived from the Greek Illyris. This latter area derived its name from the fact that, being close to Greece and it was part of the Roman province of Macedonia. Illyria stretched from the River Drilon in modern northern Albania to Istria, there were numerous islands off the coast, but they lacked drinking water. The mountains were cultivated towards the coast, but for the most they were barren, lack of water and poor or arid soil made much of Illyria poor agricultural area and this gave rise to piracy. The interior of the part of Illyricum was more fertile. Illyria was inhabited by a dozens of independent tribes and tribal groupings, most of them were labelled as Illyrians. In the north there were also Celtic tribes, the Pannonian plain in the north was more fertile. Its tribes were labelled as Pannonian, archaeological finds and toponyms show that the Pannonians differed culturally form the Illyrians and the eastern Celts who lived to their west, in what is now Austria. They were later Celticised following a Celtic invasion of the part of the region at the beginning of the 4th century BC. Some tribes in the area were Celtic, the Pannonians also had cultural similarities with the Illyrians. Iron mining and production was an important part of their economy in the pre-Roman days, the Romans fought three Illyrian wars between 229 BC and 168 BC. The First Illyrian War broke out due to concerns about attacks on the ships of Rome’s Italian allies in the Adriatic Sea by Illyrian pirates, numerous attacks on Italian ships prompted Rome to intervene. The Roman freed the Greek cities and attacked the Ardiaei, in 220 BC the Ardiaei carried out attacks on the Greek coast in the west, south and southeast

36.
Roman Empire
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Civil wars and executions continued, culminating in the victory of Octavian, Caesars adopted son, over Mark Antony and Cleopatra at the Battle of Actium in 31 BC and the annexation of Egypt. Octavians power was then unassailable and in 27 BC the Roman Senate formally granted him overarching power, the imperial period of Rome lasted approximately 1,500 years compared to the 500 years of the Republican era. The first two centuries of the empires existence were a period of unprecedented political stability and prosperity known as the Pax Romana, following Octavians victory, the size of the empire was dramatically increased. After the assassination of Caligula in 41, the senate briefly considered restoring the republic, under Claudius, the empire invaded Britannia, its first major expansion since Augustus. Vespasian emerged triumphant in 69, establishing the Flavian dynasty, before being succeeded by his son Titus and his short reign was followed by the long reign of his brother Domitian, who was eventually assassinated. The senate then appointed the first of the Five Good Emperors, the empire reached its greatest extent under Trajan, the second in this line. A period of increasing trouble and decline began with the reign of Commodus, Commodus assassination in 192 triggered the Year of the Five Emperors, of which Septimius Severus emerged victorious. The assassination of Alexander Severus in 235 led to the Crisis of the Third Century in which 26 men were declared emperor by the Roman Senate over a time span. It was not until the reign of Diocletian that the empire was fully stabilized with the introduction of the Tetrarchy, which saw four emperors rule the empire at once. This arrangement was unsuccessful, leading to a civil war that was finally ended by Constantine I. Constantine subsequently shifted the capital to Byzantium, which was renamed Constantinople in his honour and it remained the capital of the east until its demise. Constantine also adopted Christianity which later became the state religion of the empire. However, Augustulus was never recognized by his Eastern colleague, and separate rule in the Western part of the empire ceased to exist upon the death of Julius Nepos. The Eastern Roman Empire endured for another millennium, eventually falling to the Ottoman Turks in 1453, the Roman Empire was among the most powerful economic, cultural, political and military forces in the world of its time. It was one of the largest empires in world history, at its height under Trajan, it covered 5 million square kilometres. It held sway over an estimated 70 million people, at that time 21% of the entire population. Throughout the European medieval period, attempts were made to establish successors to the Roman Empire, including the Empire of Romania, a Crusader state. Rome had begun expanding shortly after the founding of the republic in the 6th century BC, then, it was an empire long before it had an emperor